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\J[/opderful life 
\J[/orK8 of 

DwIflW L. Moon 



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Copyright, 1900, by Robt. O. Law. 



D WIGHT L. MOODY 



THE WONDERFUL LIFE 

AND 

WORKS OF 

DWIGHT L MOODY 



. A COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC REVIEW OF THE MARVELOUS 

CAREER OF THE MOST REMARKABLE RELIGIOUS 

GENERAL IN HISTORY 



REV. J. W.^ANSON, A.M., D. D. 



Author of " Religions of the World," "Manna," "Cloud of 
Witnesses," and other religious works. 



INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. H. W. THOMAS, D. D. 
The Celebrated Pastor of People's Church, Chicago. 



EULOGY BY 

HON. J. V. FARWELL 
The MillionairelPhilanthropist and Co-Worker of Mr. Moody. 



Publishers 

FRANKLIN PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. 

1900 



tllirary of CoBg,,,-, 

FEO 8 •• md 

B«Sl»Ur Of C.pyrtgj,^ 



54376 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900 

By ROBT. O. law, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 






Publishers' Preface. 



Spurgeon was called the pastoral evangelist ; 
Chalmers, the parish evangelist; Finney, the 
revival evangelist; Howard, the prison evan- 
gelist; Whitetield, the field evangelist; Shaftes- 
bury, the philanthropic evangelist; Bliss, the 
singing evangelist; McCauley, the evangelist 
of the outcast, but Dwight L. Moody was 
the evangelist of the people. 

For forty years his name was known among 
the English speaking people. For nearly forty 
years his sayings have been household words; 
for nearly forty years his stories have been 
told at almost every Christian fireside. His 
life, with its peculiarly fitting ending, is known 
in a general way to the great majority of the 
people, but few of them realize what a great 
man he was. Born in New England poverty, 
but with an indomitable spirit, he made -his 
mark as a boy even in wise old Boston. As 
a young man in Chicago, he demonstrated his 
stability in commerce as well as in religion. 
He founded, by his energy, one of the largest 
Sunday-schools in the world out of apparently 
the poorest material to be found on the Ameri- 
can continent. 

A few years later, he electrified Europe with 
his methods and thousands of people turned 
5 



6 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 

from ways of sin to ways of righteousness. He 
came home and founded the great schools at 
Northfieid where thousands of young men and 
women can procure an education at a nominal 
figure. Thirty buildings stand as a monument 
to him there. In Chicago, the great Bible 
Institute, with its auxiliary features, where 
thousands of young men and women, desirous 
of greater insight into the Holy Scriptures daily 
assemble and listen to explanations of the 
Bible. 

The present work was commenced early in 
1898 and is the result of months of careful 
research and many interviews with personal 
friends of Mr. Moody. It embodies a com- 
plete account of the great evangelist's marvel- 
ous career from his birth to his death, enliv- 
ened with anecdotes contributed from all parts 
of the world. The labor of arranging, select- 
ing and condensing the vast amount of material 
gathered during the past two years, was very 
great and it was found necessary to omit a 
large amount of very interesting and valuable 
matter in order to keep the work within the 
lines of a popular life of Mr. Moody. Many of 
the illustrations were taken specially for the 
work by our own photographer; others were 
redrawn from designs furnished our special 
artist. 



INTRODUCTION 

BY H. W. THOMAS, D. D., 
Pastor of People's Church, Chicago. 

D WIGHT L. MOODY would have been a 
marked man in almost any field of active 
affairs, and simply because of his large 
natural abilities. That he was great as an 
evangelist was owing mainly to his special 
adaptation to that form of work ; his glad and en- 
tire consecration to it, and his wonderful power 
to use others, to marshal and control forces 
to inspire minds and hearts with his own pur- 
pose and earnestness. 

Brother Moody understood well the power 
of numbers, of large assemblies, and the value 
of sympathetic emotion. Hence he did not go 
forth alone to gather and reach the outside 
world, as did Wesley; but sought and secured 
the united action of the preachers, the mem- 
bers and choirs of the evangelical churches, and 
this he could do sincerely because he saw 
nothing vital in the Hnes that differentiated the 
denominations, and felt that their coming to- 
gether would be helpful to each; that the com- 

7 



INTRODUCTION. 

mon life of all would be quickened and en- 
larged. 

No one, perhaps, has done so much to lessen 
the lines of separation, and so much to unite all 
in the great law and life of love. Had he 
sought to found a new denomination, this united 
action would not have been possible, for the 
movement would naturally have been looked 
upon as competitive. Brother Moody did not 
wish to found another denomination; he 
thought there were too many already; but he 
did, and wisely, too, look to the perpetuation of 
his own spirit and work in one central church 
and through the educational power of training 
schools, and in this was successful through 
his singular ability to reach men of large 
means, and to bring other workers into the 
field. 

There will not be another Moody; as there 
will not be another Beecher, Simpson or Philips 
Brooks; it is not Nature's God's way of work- 
ing. Brother Moody filled a needed place in 
his time; other minds and hearts will come forth 
for the needs of new conditions. 

We all loved and honored Brother Moody, 
and pray that his inspiration, his consecration, 
his great love for man and God, may be caught 
up and carried forward to bless a world. 

H. W. THOMAS. 



DWIGHT L. MOODY. 

By JOHN V. FARWELL. 



I never felt so small as when requested to 
give in words, as an observer from its begin- 
ning until his translation, some sort of a digest 
of Dwight L. Moody's character. 

While lying in his coffin in the Northfield 
church, that gust of wind that opened enough 
of one window blind to let in the light of the 
sun on his kindly face, suggests to my mind 
that only the mind of God — the only source of 
light of life — can measure a mind and heart 
aflame with the inspiration of the Almighty, 
from whence he drew his power for daily use 
in his work. 

Environment and want of education under 
such a heavenly ray of light, was no obstruc- 
tion to his being lifted out of weakness into a 
power sufficient to confound the mightiest 
men, who had any less communion with God. 

Look at yonder dirty pool, too foul for use. 
We expect nothing from it to help mankind. 

Look again. The sun, with its silent chem- 
istry, has in due time drawn it up into heaven's 

9 



10 . DWIGHT L. MOODY. 

blue, and on fhe very spot where it cursed the 
earth, is a garden of flowers, watered by its 
dew drops, and in the heavens above is God's 
rainbow of promise, painted by its mystery of 
heavenly art while on its way to earth, to 
water that garden of the beautiful, and fields 
plowed and planted by man, that the earth may 
bring forth bread for the hungry. 

The natural man with his earthly lusts and 
passions is that dirty pool, only needing the 
potentialities of heaven's light and heat to trans- 
form its stagnant elements into the beautiful 
and useful. 

Mr. Moody was thus transformed by his own 
deliberate choice, placing himself under the 
hands of the Almighty, to be used in His 
vineyard. 

Thus equipped, his works were well done, 
and it may be well said of him, ^'Blessed are 
the dead which die in the Lord, for their works 
do follow them." 

A mighty man has finished his work on 
earth. The oldest book in existence records, 
"There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration 
of the Almighty giveth him understanding." 
Moody's spirit-— or mental ability — was natur- 
ally of a superior order. Had he taken up 
politics he would have made an exceptional 
statesman. Having taken up with Christ as 



DWIGHT L. MOODY. 11 

Lord for his life work, the inspiration of the 
Almighty gave him a power in Christian work 
second to no one in the apostolic succession 
from Saints Peter and Paul until December 
22d A. D., 1899, measured by the results of 
his ministry, practically surrounding the globe 
in its influence, and nearly so in his travels. 

The key to the understanding of all this is 
that Moody's body, soul and spirit, by his own 
deliberate choice, were consecrated to that 
ministry. He once heard a man say, *'The 
world has yet to see how much one man, 
wholly consecrated to God, can accomplish in 
this world for Him." "Then," said Moody, 
"I will be that man, for I can consecrate my all 
to Him." 

He began his work as a mission Sunday- 
school drummer, and from that graduated in 
regular succession into Superintendent of one 
of the largest mission Sunday-schools in the 
city, President of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, and the world's exangelist, the 
highest office in Christ's ministry. 

When he left a successful business for this 
calling, he had accumulated about $12,000, all 
of which was invested in mission enterprises at 
the time he was most busy with the work of 
the Y. M. C. A. A little prayer meeting of 
three asked for wisdom to procure a building 



12 DWIGHT L. MOODY. 

for that association, and in answer Mr. Moody 
began and finished the first building ever erected 
for the use of a Y. M. C. A. on earth, represent- 
ing Christian union, and in his work in Chicago, 
after returning from his London mission, he 
raised the money to free it from debt, after 
having been twice burned to the ground, but 
for this timely effort of his the present magnifi- 
cent temple of the Y. M. C. A. would not be 
one of the world's best material monuments of 
Christian unity (for which he stood) that was 
ever erected. 

The lineal descendants of his first enterprise, 
the North Market Hall Mission Sunday-school, 
are the Bible Institute and the Chicago 
Avenue Church, now filled to its utmost capa- 
city twice every Sunday to hear the plain testi- 
mony of Jesus, which theangelsaidto John was 
"the spirit of prophecy," or preaching; and 
conversions follow every service as a rule, and 
some times scores and hundreds attend the 
second meeting which follows the evening 
service. 

Being dead, he yet speaks through these in- 
stitutions as clearly as did the angels when 
they sang "Glory to God in the Highest" and 
"On earth Peace and Good Will to Men," at 
the birth of Christ, through whose Life more 
abundant now given to men, that song is to be 



DWIGHT L. MOODY. 13 

perpetuated through the agency of such men 
to the end of time. 

The meaning of the removal of such work- 
men from the harvest field at such a time as this 
is beyond our ken, when, instead of one re- 
moval a regiment of them seems to be needed for 
fields white for the harvest, and the world one as 
it never was before by the power of steam and 
electricity, as well as the power of Christian 
civilization in the strongest nations on earth. 
Yea, and when there are calls on Moody's 
desk from Europe and America that would re- 
quire months, if not years, to fill if he were 
here to do it. 

Why.^ God only knows. 



List of Illustrations. 



PAGE. 

Dwight L. Moody Frontispiece 

"The Sower" 20 

Moody Family Gathering, 1867 29 

Period Pictures of Mr. Moody 39 

The Old and the New 49 

Mr. Moody's Missionary Pony 59 

North Side Tabernacle 77 

P. P. Bliss 87 

Ira D. Sankey 97 

Mr. Moody's Characteristic Attitude. 115 

Mr. Moody on a Morning Drive 125 

Free Church Assembly Hall, Edinburgh 135 

Exhibition Hall, Dublin 153 

Haymarket Opera House 171 

Characteristic Page from Mr. Moody's Bible 182 

Farewell Meeting at Glasgow 189 

Chicago Avenue Church 207 

Interior of Chicago Church 225 

The Empty Chair 243 

The Bible He Preached From 261 

Moody Bible Institute 279 

Bible Institute Library 297 



14 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. Ancestors of Mr. Moody — Statement that every 
other Moody family contained a preacher — 
Three great Moody's, one in the seventeenth, 
one in the eighteenth, and one in the nine- 
teenth century 21-33 

II. Moody's early life — Left to the care of his 
mother at four — Eldest brother runs away — 
Some early escapades — First trip away from 
home 34-46 

III. Life in Boston — Gets a place in his uncle's store 

— Forced to attend church — His conversion — 
Compelled to wait six months before being 
admitted to membership 48-57 

IV. Beginning of his career — Secures employment in 

Chicago, and invents new methods of secur- 
ing customers — His first Sunday-school — Some 
hard experiences 57-67 

V. President of the Y. M. C. A. for four years- 
Agent of the United States Christian Commis- 
sion — Comforts the wounded and dying on the 

battle-field 6S-72 

15 



16 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

VI. First meeting with Bliss— Life of the great 
singing evangelist— Some of the great songs he 
wrote — His end at Ashtabula 73-8o 

VII. Sermons on P. P. Bliss— The great evangelist 
praises the dead singer — Corrects reports about 
money received from song books 81-89 

VIII. First meeting with Sankey— An attachment 
formed which lasts through life — Story of the 
great singer's early days 90-94 

IX. Side lights on the character of Mr. Moody— His 
likes and dislikes — Some men he admired — His 
belief in advertising 95-111 

X. English visit of Moody and Sankey — Great 
awakening in England, Ireland, and Scot- 
land II2-I27 

XL The Birmingham meeting — New method of se- 
curing attendants is successful— Described by 
an English critic 128-139 

XII. Meetings at Boston— Great gospel campaign at 

Brooklyn 140-146 

XIII. Mr. Moody's crisp sayings 147-168 

XIV. Anecdotes 169-182 

XV. Mr. Moody's Bible — Peculiar manner he had of 
marking them — Death of his mother — Connec- 
tion with Miss Willard 183-186 



CONTENTS. 17 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

XVI. The Kansas City meeting — Beginning of his 
illness — He cannot understand his failing 
strength 187-1Q6 

XVII. Death of Moody 197-204 

XVIII. The last farewell 205-231 

XIX. Eulogies by many eminent men in all parts of 

the country 232-259 

XX. Editorial comment — The leading newspapers of 

the country discuss his place in history. . .260-277 

XXI. Memorial expressions by ministers in different 
cities, giving condensed accounts of his life and 
work 278-293 

XXII. Last of the group — Splendid tribute by Dr. 

Hillis 294-303 

XXIII. The Northfield schools 304-306 

XXIV. Great religious revivals 307-312 




Copyright, 1900, by Kobt. O. Law. 

"THE SOWER." 
i_ Dedicated to Dwig-ht L. Moody. "And behold a sower went forth to sow.' 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

Dwight L. Moody descended from a line of min- 
isters. It has been said that every other Moody 
family contained a preacher. Some of them have 
been men of great force and character, and have 
made more than a passing impression on New Eng- 
land history. The family has been noted for lon- 
gevity, and the extent of the literary attainments of 
its members; their bold persevering habits; their 
spirit of enterprise, their independence of mind and 
character, irrespective of the popular will, and for 
the similarity and purity of their religious faith. The 
average age of seventeen ancestors of Mr. Moody, 
ranging from the year 1633 to 1847, was 67 years. 

Mr. William Moody, the principal progenitor of 
the Moody family in New England, came according 
to the best records obtainable, from Wales, in 1633, 
wintered at Ipswich, and removed to Newbury with 
the first settlers of that place in 1635. Here he was 
admitted a Freeman and received a grant of ninety- 
two acres of land. There is a tradition that he was a 
blacksmith by trade, and another that he was a sad- 
dler, and it is very probable that he did a little of 
both. It is known, however, that he was the first per- 
son in New England to adopt the practice of shoeing 
oxen to enable them to walk on the ice, and he even 
21 



22 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

acquired the appellation "The learned black- 
smith. ' ' 

Since the Moody family came to America it has 
never lacked an exceptionally great preacher of the 
gospel. Joshua belonged to the Seventeenth cen- 
tury, Samuel to the Eighteenth, and Dwight to the 
Nineteenth. 

Rev. Joshua Moodey, a son of William Moody, 
although he spelled his name differently, was born 
in England in 1633, about a year before his father 
came to this country. He received his early educa- 
tion at Newbury, and was prepared for admission to 
college by Rev. Thomas Parker. He was a grad- 
uate of Harvard in 1653, after which he began the 
study of divinity and early began to preach. He 
began his ministerial labors at Portsmouth, N. H., 
early in the year 1658, at which place he laid the 
foundation and eventually gathered the first Con- 
gregational church in that place. As a minister he 
was considered zealous and faithful and for many 
years the church flourished under his pastoral care, 
during which time he distinguished himself by his 
independent and faithful manner of teaching and 
the strictness of his church discipline. Mr. Moodey 
became involved in a dispute with Mr. Cranfield, 
who was lieutenant-governor of the province, and 
who did not like the minister because he thought he 
stood in the way of his schemes for personal 
aggrandizement. In 1684 a Scotch ketch had been 
seized by a collector and carried out of the harbor 
in the night. The owner, a member of the church, 
swore upon the trial that he had not a hand in send- 
ing her away and that he knew nothing about it, 
but the * circumstances were such that there was 



THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 23 

strong suspicion that he had perjured himself. He 
found means, however, to settle the matter with 
Cranfield and the collector, but Mr. Moodey judged 
it necessary to do something to vindicate the honor 
of his church, so he requested of the Governor 
copies of the evidence for the purpose of instituting 
an examination. Cranfield ordered the minister to 
desist and threatened him with the consequences in 
case of refusal, but Moodey would not be intimidated 
and preached a sermon upon swearing and the evil 
of false swearing. The Governor in order to wreak 
his vengeance determined to put the uniformity act 
into operation; by a statute then in force, ministers 
were required to admit to the Lord's Supper all per- 
sons who should desire it, who were "of suitable 
years and not vicous. " Cranfield gave notice that 
he and several others intended on the following 
Sunday to partake of the sacrament. His demand 
was not complied with, in consequence of which 
Moodey was indicted and imprisoned for thirteen 
weeks. After his persecution in Portsmouth he fled 
to Boston and was received in open arms by the 
members of the First Church. Even while at Ports- 
mouth he took a great interest in Harvard college 
and succeeded in raising a fund of sixty pounds a 
year for seven years to erect a brick building on the 
Harvard ground. On the death of President Rog- 
ers, July 2, 1684, he was elected his successor, as 
president of Harvard College. He modestly declined 
the offer, preferring his situation as assistant min- 
ister in the First Church. He was a strong oppon- 
ent to superstition, was involved in innumerable 
arguments and did much in securing the release of 
persons who were arrested in Salem and Boston for 



24 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

witchcraft. He went back to Portsmouth in 1692 
after many solicitations from his old flock. He died 
on the 4th of July, 1697, in the 65th year of his age, 
and his funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Cot- 
ton Mather. 

Rev. vSamuel Moody of the First Parish of York, 
Maine, was the fourth son of Caleb Moody of New- 
bury, and a grandson of William Moody, who came 
from England. He was born at Newbury on the 
4th of January, 1675, and was a nephew of Rev. 
Joshua Moodey. Of his early life little is known, 
but he finished his education at Harvard when he 
was twenty-two, and graduated with honors in the 
year 1697. The next year he commenced preaching 
in York and was regularly ordained, and settled 
over the First Parish in that place in December, 
1700, where he continued an eminently useful and 
successful minister of the gospel for nearly fifty 
years. 

He was a man noted for his piety and was greatly 
beloved and no less feared by the people of his 
charge. He was distinguished alike for his eccen- 
tricities, his zeal as a man of God, his remarkable 
faith and fervency in prayer, and his uncommon 
benevolence. Histories of religion in New England 
place him as the equal of any gentleman of the 
clergy of that day. Previous to his settlement at 
York, the whole town had been destroyed by the 
Indians, fifty people having been killed and one 
hundred taken captive. 

He petitioned the Earl of Bellemont, who was 
then Governor-in- Chief, and through him the council 
and representatives of the province assembled in 
June, 1699, for a competent maintenance as a chap- 



THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 25 

lain to the garrison at York, in which position he 
had served for upward of a year, and the council 
granted him twelve pounds out of the public treas- 
ury. 

He was a man of prayer, and remarkable for his 
importunity at the throne of grace. An instance 
of his power of prayer, is one cited against the 
French fleet in 1746. France had fitted out a ffeet 
with the intention of destroying the British colonies. 
This fact was known in this country, and as the col- 
onists could not expect any aid from England, of 
course they were very much exercised over the 
event. Moody had recourse to prayer. He appointed 
a day for the purpose, praying against this fleet, and 
he brought to view the expressions made use of in 
the Scriptures against Sennacherib; "Put a hook in 
his nose and a bridle in his lips ; turn him back again 
by the way that he came, that he shall not shoot an 
arrow here nor cast up a bank ; but by the way he 
came, cause him to return." By and by the old 
gentleman waxed warm and raised his hands and his 
voice and cried out, "Good Lord, if there is no other 
way of defeating their enterprise, send a storm upon 
them and sink them in the ship. ' ' It was found 
afterward that not far from that time a tremendous 
tempest burst upon that fleet, and foundered many 
of them. A remnant of the fleet got into Halifax, 
and the commander was so disheartened, thinking 
all the rest were lost that he put an end to his own 
life, and the second in command did the same, and 
the third in command was not competent for the 
undertaking. A mortal sickness prevailed among 
the survivors, and great numbers of them laid their 



26 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

bones in Halifax. They finally packed their all and 
went back to France without striking a blow. 

His faith was emulated in the Nineteenth century 
by his descendant. A story is told of him that he 
believed that if he asked the Lord, He would pro- 
vide for every living thing. One morning his wife 
told him they had nothing for dinner. He replied 
that this was nothing to her: what she had to do 
was to set the table as usual when the dinner hour 
came. Accordingly, when the hour came, she set 
the table, spread the cloth and put on the plates, 
and just then a neighbor brought in a good dinner 
all cooked. 

On another occasion Mrs. Moody told him on vSat- 
urday morning that they had no wood. ' ' Well, ' ' he 
replied, "I must go into my study and God will pro- 
vide for us." During the day a Quaker called in 
and asked for Mr. Moody. Mr. Moody appeared and 
the Quaker said to him, "Friend Moody, I was 
carrying a load of wood to neighbor A. B., and just 
as I got opposite thy door my sled broke down, and 
if thee will accept of the wood, I will leave it here. ' ' 
Mr. Moody told him it was very acceptable as he 
was entirely out. 

His daughter, who lived in Massachusetts, told of 
the time when her father was officiating in the pul- 
pit of her husband, who was a minister. At the 
time great ravages were being made by the canker 
worm, which well-nigh destroyed everything green. 
On Sunday morning when they went to the meet- 
ing house, the canker worms were so numerous that 
one could scarce set down his foot without crushing 
them by the score. Mr. Moody's text was from 
Mai. iii: 2, "I will rebuke the devourer for your 



THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 27 

sakes. " As he warmed up he seemed filled with a 
sort of prophetic fire and appealed to his hearers as 
follows: '* Brethren, here is the promise of God. 
Do you believe it? Will you repose full confidence 
in it? I believe it and feel an assurance in my soul 
that God will bring it to pass. " 

It was noticed that when the service, which was 
long, had been -finished, the destoyer had disap- 
peared. Not one of the insects that had been so 
multitudinous was seen around. Historians say 
that they were seen lying dead in little windrows 
on the shore of the creek, which ran through the 
town. 

In another particular the modern Evangelist 
emulated his distinguished ancestor. The latter 
refused to receive a stipulated salary, but rather 
chose to live on the voluntary contributions of the 
people. It has been said that he literally knew not 
anything that he possessed. In one of his sermons 
he mentioned that he had been supported for twenty 
years in a way most pleasing to him, and that he 
had been under no necessity of spending one hour 
in a week in care for the world. Yet he was some- 
times reduced to want, though his confidence in 
God never failed him. 

His benevolence was unbounded. His wife, as 
well as others, thought he was too lavish of his little, 
when anyone applied to him for assistance in dis- 
tress. To put a check upon his liberality and give 
him time to consider, she made him a new purse, 
but when she had put the change into it she tied the 
strings into several knots, so that he might have 
time for reflection while untying them. Not long 
after this a poor person asked him for alms. He 



28 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

took out his purse and attempted to untie the 
strings, but finding it difficult, he told the person he 
believed the Lord intended he should give him the 
whole, so he gave the purse and change together. 
The old lady's experiment on this occasion was 
rather a losing one. 

Once when he was going to Boston to attend a 
great convention or conference, he saw a poor man 
in the hands of the officers, who were taking him 
to jail for debt. Father Moody inquired the amount 
for which he was to be imprisoned, and found that he 
had sufficient to defray the debt, which he immedi- 
ately did, and the poor man was liberated. He then 
turned to one of his Elders who accompanied him 
and said that he must depend upon him to bear the 
expense of the journey, as he had nothing left. 
The Elder ventured respectfully to question the 
propriety and prudence of his conduct in thus ren- 
dering himself so dependent, but the old clergyman 
replied: "Elder, does not the Bible asy, 'Cast thy 
bread upon the waters and thou shalt find it after 
many days?' " Towards evening they reached the 
city and the talent and piety of Boston came out 
upon Boston Common to see the famous Father 
Moody. The Elder related the morning adventure 
and after they had retired to their lodgings, a 
waiter brought Father Moody a sealed packet. He 
opened it and found it contained the precise sum 
which he had given to the poor man in the morning. 
He turned to the Elder and exclaimed: "I cast my 
bread upon the waters in the morning and behold 
it is returned to me in the evening. ' ' 

His aptness for quoting and applying Scripture 
was known to be proverbial. He had a habit when 



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THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 31 

performing table service, of quoting some passage 
of Scripture descriptive of the food provided; one 
of his parishoners desired to know what he could 
find in the Bible to suit Shell-fish, and provided a 
dinner of clams and invited Mr. Moody to dine with 
him. In returning thanks after the refreshment, 
he blessed the Lord that he not only furnished sup- 
plies from the produce of the fields and flocks and 
herds, but permitted them to "suck of the abund- 
ance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the 
sand. " 

He was an extremely eccentric old fellow and 
numerous anecdotes are related on this particular 
phase of his character. At a certain time his church 
got into difficulty. At a church meeting, finding 
it difficult to get along, they concluded by his advice 
to adjourn for a season and pray for light and direc- 
tion. On the next Sabbath, Mr. Moody preached 
from the following text: 2 Chron. xx: 12. "Neither 
know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee." 
After some introductory remarks, he stated this for 
his doctrine: "When a person or people are in such 
a situation that they know not what to do, they 
should not do they know not what, but their eyes 
should be unto the Lord for direction. ' ' 

On another occasion while the old gentleman was 
on a journey to the Western part of Massachusetts, 
he called on a brother minister one Saturday, with 
a view to spending the Sabbath with him if agree- 
able. The man appeared very glad to see him and 
said: "I should be very glad to have you stop and 
preach with me to-morrow, but I feel almost ashamed 
to ask you." "Why, what is the matter?" said Mr. 
Moody. "Our people have got into such a habit of 



32 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 

going out before the meeting is closed, that it seems 
to be an imposition upon a stranger." "If that is 
all, I must and will stop and preach for you," was 
Mr. Moody's reply. When the Sabbath day came, 
and Mr. Moody had opened the meeting and named 
his text, he looked around on the assembly and said : 
"My hearers, I am going to speak to two sorts of 
folks to-day, saints and sinners. Sinners, I am 
going to give you your portion first, and I would 
have your good attention. ' ' When he had preached 
to them as long as he thought best, he paused and 
said: "There, sinners, I have done with you now; 
you take your hats and go out of the meeting house 
as soon as you please. ' ' But they tarried and heard 
him through. 

He was remarkably successful as a minister, and 
many revivals were held in his church during his 
ministry, and it is said to have contained between 
300 and 400 members when he left it. His greatest 
revival, perhaps, was in 1741. The exact number he 
affiliated with his church will perhaps never be 
known, as the records were destroyed when the 
church was burned the next year. 

The old man had as his guest that year the Rev. 
George Whitefield, the celebrated young minister, 
whose talents and fervent piety drew from the con- 
gregation to which he preached the strongest 
expressions of praise. 

In 1745, two years before his death, he accompa- 
nied the American army as chaplain of the celebrated 
Cape Breton expedition. The old man, when Louis- 
burg was taken, shouldered an ax and went up to 
the images in the churches and actually cut them 



THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 33 

down, as he had told his friends he would when he 
left home. 

He published several books, among which were 
** The Doleful State of the Damned, especially Such 
as go to Hell from under the Gospel," "Judas, the 
Traitor, Hung up in Chains to give Warnings to 
Professors that they Beware of Worldlimindedness 
and Hypocrisy; a Discourse concluding with a Dia- 
logue," "A Sermon Preached to Children After 
Catechizing in the Town of York (Me.) July 25, 
1 72 1," "The Way to Get out of Debt, and the Way 
to Keep out of Debt. " 

Critics who have read these books declare that 
they compare well with those of Baxter. 

He died at the age of ninety, and the family were 
assembled in the room at the time, his son Joseph 
sitting behind him on the bed, holding him up in his 
arms. When he had ceased to breathe, the people in 
the room began to remark that he was gone, and his 
son exclaimed in a loud voice: "And Joseph shall 
put his hands upon thine eyes." He then put his 
hands around and closed his eyes, and laid the life- 
less body back on the bed. 

His remains lie buried in the common burying 
place near the meeting house in York, and on his 
tombstone is this inscription : ' ' For his farther char- 
acter read Corinthians, 3d Chapter, and first six 
verses. ' * 



CHAPTER 11. 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

D wight Lyman Moody was born in the town of 
Northfield, Mass., February 5th, 1837. He was the 
sixth child of Edwin Moody and Betsy Holton, who 
were married January 3, 1828. Nine children in 
all blessed the union of this couple, seven being sons 
and two daughter-S. The homestead consisted of 
several acres of typical Massachusetts land, most of 
which was of a stony character, and covered by a 
mortgage. The father tilled his acres in their season 
and at other times worked at his trade as a stone- 
mason. According to the best accounts, he was not 
a successful business man, and the latter part of his 
life, as his family increased, was burdened with 
debts. His crushed spirit and business reverses 
caused his death after a few hours' illness. Dwight 
was then only four years old, but the shock of that 
death made an impression upon him which he de- 
clared he had never forgotten. The death of the 
father was followed soon after by the birth of a twin 
boy and girl. Thus Mrs. Moody was burdened with 
the care of a large family, the eldest of whom was 
only fifteen years. The old puritan idea, coupled 
with a mother's love, made her anxious to keep her 
brood together, and she bravely set about caring for 
them all, and contrived to have each of the little 
34 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 35 

hands earn something toward their support. They 
were taught to till the garden and do odd jobs for 
the neighbors. She was a strict Unitarian of the old 
school, a creed much different from that professed 
in that denomination in latter days. She was a firm 
believer in the Bible and its teachings, and drew 
therefrom the inspiration to make the life of her 
children dearer to the great Creator. It was her 
daily task and pleasure to teach them a little Bible 
lesson, and the Sabbath morning found them wend- 
ing their way to the church service and Sunday 
school. 

The eldest of the children was a boy of rugged 
mien who had an inclination to break away from his 
mother's apron strings. He had read the literature 
of the plains, and wandered off into the world, as he 
thought, to seek a fortune. This was one of the 
great sorrows of the Moody family. The mother 
never lost hope ; she was ever praying for the return 
of her boy. As time went on, the preparations for 
his home-coming were added to year by year. This 
was especially true of Thanksgiving time, a festival 
dear to the hearts of all New Englanders. For 
years no tidings of the wandering boy reached the 
mother; night after night her sleep was disturbed 
by a dread vision of him lying somewhere in the 
great cold world ; perhaps suffering, while she had 
enough for comfort. She was constantly sending 
to the little postoffice for a letter; sometimes two 
or three times a day. She never stated that she 
expected a letter from "him" — it was not necessary 
that she should do so, as the children learned by 
instinct that he was constantly in her mind. By 
common consent, his name was never mentioned, 



36 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

except in the mother's prayer, and then, when in 
the family circle, only by inference. 

Years afterward, when the widow was getting 
old and the gray was replacing the black in her 
hair and she had almost given up hope of ever see- 
ing the lost one, a scene took place which changed 
her sorrow into joy. 

In the dusk of a New England summer evening, 
a long-bearded stranger approached the humble 
home and stood upon the porch gazing in the open 
door with eager eyes. He had passed through the 
village, looking to the right and left for familiar 
faces and familiar scenes. He had wandered in the 
village churchyard and visited the grave of his 
father, to learn if there was another beside it. The 
widow came to the door and bid the stranger in. 
The old eyes which had watched so long for his com- 
ing did not know him now. He was only a lank 
boy when he ran away, now he is a big sun-burned 
and whiskered man. 

The stranger did not move or speak in response 
to her invitation. He bowed his head and stood 
there reverently and humble in the presence of her 
whose love he had slighted and whose heart-strings 
he had almost broken. The sense of his ingrati- 
tude, and the memory of devotion and years of 
anxiety which were plainly stamped on that 
mother's face, caused the tears to run from his 
eyes. These tears were the means by which his 
mother recognized him. 

"I cannot come in," said the son, "until my 
mother has forgiven me. ' ' 

It may be surmised that he did not stand out very 
long. It did not take that mother many seconds to 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 37 

get her arms around the neck of that prodigal child. 
She had forgotten the sorrow of years, in the joy 
of seeing him once again. 

The Pastor of the Unitarian church where the 
Moodys worshiped was the Rev. Mr. Everett, and 
he was a faithful friend of the widow and her large 
family of children. They were on his regular visit- 
ing list and he was constantly cheering them with 
pleasant words. It was he who settled the quarrels 
among the boys; it was he who gave them bright 
pieces of silver urging them to good deeds; it was 
he who bid the mother to keep on praying. 

At one time the great evangelist was taken into 
his home when but a mite of a boy, to run errands 
in the Pastor's household. He was a vigorous lad 
and was familiar with all the pranks known to all 
the urchins of that period. The good minister's 
patience was sorely tried on many occasions, but 
his jolly good-nature stayed the use of the rod. 

The old minister had quite an influence with the 
boy, but it was not nearly so far-reaching as that of 
his mother. She was almost the only one who 
could command implicit obedience. In the winter 
time young Moody attended the village school ; but 
at that period of his existence he had little desire 
for learning, and at the end of his six or seven terms 
he knew but little. Mr. Moody, in speaking of his 
school days, said: 

"I remember, when a boy, I used to go in a cer- 
tain school in New England, where we had a quick- 
tempered master who always kept a rattan. It 
was, 'If you don't do this, and you don't do that, 
I'll punish you. ' I remember many times of this 
rattan being laid upon my back. I think I can 



38 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

almost feel it now. He used to rule that school by 
the law. But after a while there were some parents 
who were in favor of controlling the school by love. 
A great many said you can never do that with 
those unruly boys, but after some talk it was at 
last decided to try it. I remember how we thought 
of the good time we would have that winter when 
the rattan would be out of the school. We thought 
we would then have all the fun we wanted ; I re- 
member who the teacher was — it was a lady — and 
she opened the school with prayer. We hadn't seen 
it done before and we were impressed, especially 
when she prayed that she might have grace and 
strength to rule the school with love. Well, the 
school went on for several weeks and we saw no 
rattan, but at last the rules were broken, and I 
think I was the first boy to break them. She told 
me to wait till after school and then she would see 
me. I thought the rattan was coming out sure, 
and stretched myself up in warlike attitude. After 
school, however, I didn't see the rattan, but she sat 
down by me and told me how she loved me, and 
how she had prayed to be able to rule that school 
by love, and concluded by asking me if I loved her 
to try and be a good boy. Her pleading reached 
my heart, and I never after caused her trouble. " 

Mr. Moody, one time, when talking of his early 
childhood, said that before he was four years old, 
the first thing he remembered was the death of his 
father ; that he had been in business and failed, and 
that soon after his death the creditors came in and 
took everything. He said it seemed that one calam- 
ity after another came along and swept over the 
entire household; the coming of the twins in a 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 41 

month after the death of the father, the rapacity of 
the creditors, and the illness of the mother, together 
with the demoralized state of the family, rendered 
the household anything but a congenial home. It 
was at this time that the elder son became a wan- 
derer. 

Another incident of Mr. Moody's boyhood days is 
related by him as follows: "I was in a field one day 
with a man who was hoeing. He was weeping, 
and he told me a strange story, which I have never 
forgotten. He said that when he left home, his 
mother gave him this text, 'Seek first the Kingdom 
of God,' but he paid no heed to it. He said when 
he got started in life, and his ambition to get money 
was gratified, it would be time enough then to seek 
the Kingdom of God. He went from one town to an- 
other and got nothing to do. When Sunday came, he 
went into the village church and what was his great 
surprise to hear the minister give out the text, ' Seek 
first the Kingdom of God. ' He said the text went 
down to the bottom of his heart, but thought it was 
but his mother's prayer following him, and that 
some one must have written to that minister about 
him. He felt very uncomfortable, and when the 
meeting was over, he could not get that sermon out 
of his mind. He went away to another village, and 
at the end of the week, went into another church, 
and he heard the minister give out the same text, 
'Seek first the Kingdom of God.' He felt sure this 
time that it was the prayers of his mother, but he 
said calmly and deliberately, 'No, I will first get 
wealth. ' He said he went on, and did not go into a 
church for a few months, but the first place of wor- 
ship he did go into, he heard the third minister 



42 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

preach a sermon from the same text. He tried to 
stifle his feelings, he tried to get the sermon out of 
his mind, and he resolved that he would keep away 
from church altogether. For a few years, he 
never entered a church door. 'My mother died,' 
he said, *and the text kept coming into my mind, 
and I said, "I will try to become a Christian.' " The 
tears rolled down his cheeks as he said, 'I could 
not. No sermons ever touched me. My heart is 
as hard as stone. ' I could not understand what it 
was all about ; it was fresh to me then. I went to 
Boston and got converted, and the first thought that 
came to me was about this man. When I went 
home, I asked my mother about him. She said they 
had taken him to an insane asylum, and to every 
one who went there he pointed with his finger up- 
ward, and told him to seek first the Kingdom of 
God. I went to see him, and I found him in a rock- 
ing-chair, with a vacant, idiotic look upon him. As 
soon as he saw me, he pointed to me and said: 
'Young man, seek first the Kingdom o£ God.' 
Reason had gone, but the text was there. " 

One of Mr. Moody's brothers was employed in a 
store at Greenfield, a short distance from the family 
home, and it was so lonesome there for him that he 
wanted young Dwight to be near him for company. 
So when he came home one cold Saturday night in 
the month of November, he told the boy that he had 
a place for him. Dwight didn't want to go, but 
after the matter was talked over by the family, he 
decided that the next morning he would visit the 
man, and if the conditions were to his liking, he 
might accept the place. In one of his sermons, Mr. 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 43 

Moody tells that incident. He said that the brothers 
started off in the early morning, and when they got 
to the top of the hill, they looked hack at the home, 
and he thought that this would be the last time that 
he would ever see it, and he cried as if his heart 
would break. This he continued until he arrived 
at Greenfield. There his brother introduced him to 
an old man who was so old that he could not milk 
his cows and do the chores, and young Dwight was 
to run his errands and go to school. Mr. Moody 
said that he looked at the old man, and thought 
that he was cross, and that he looked at his wife, 
and thought that she was crosser than the old man. 
He said that when he had stayed there an hour, it 
seemed like a week, and then he went around to his 
brother and said : 

"I am going home." 

"What are you going home for?" asked his 
brother. 

"I am homesick," Dwight said. 

"Oh, well, you will get over it in a few days." 

"I never will, I don't want to," said the boy. 

"You will get lost if you start home now, it is 
getting dark." 

Dwight was frightened then, as he was only about 
ten years old, and he said, "I will go at daybreak 
to-morrow morning. ' ' 

His brother then took him to a shop window 
where they had some jack-knives, and jew's-harps 
and dolls, and other things that boys are supposed 
to like, with the idea of diverting his mind, but what 
did the lonesome boy care for those old jack-knives, 
or jew's-harps, or dolls? He wanted to get back 
home to his mother and brothers. It seemed as 



44 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

though his heart was breaking. All at once his 
brother said : 

"Dwight, here comes a man that will give you a 
cent. ' ' 

*'How do you know he will?" the boy asked. 

*'0h, he gives every new boy that comes to town 
a cent, ' * said his brother. 

Dwight brushed away his tears, for he would not 
have him see that he had been crying, and he got 
right in the middle of the sidewalk, where he could 
not help but see him, and kept his eyes right upon 
him. He always remembered how that old man 
looked as he came tottering down the sidewalk. He 
remembered the bright, cheerful, sunny face. 
When the man came opposite to where he was, he 
stopped, took Dwight 's hat off, put his hand on his 
head and said to his brother : 

"This boy is new in town, isn't he?" 

'*Yes, sir, he has just come to-day," said his 
brother. 

Young Moody watched to see if he would put his 
hand into his pocket ; he was thinking of that cent. 
The old man began to talk to him so kindly that he 
soon forgot all about it. He told him the story of God 
and His only Son, and how wicked men had killed 
Him, and how He had died for all. He talked only 
five minutes, but he had him fascinated, and then 
he put his hand into his pocket, and took out a brand 
new cent, a copper that looked just like gold. This 
he gave him, and the boy thought it was gold, and 
he held it very tight. He never felt so rich before. 
"I do not know what became of that cent," he said 
in speaking of the affair. "I have always regretted 
that I did not keep it, but I can feel the pressure of 



MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. , 45 

that old man's hand upon my head to this day. 
Fifty years have rolled away, and I can hear those 
kind words ringing yet. I shall never forget the 
act. He put the cent at usury, and that cent has 
cost me a great many dollars. ' ' 

Mr. Moody used to tell a story in which he related 
how he and the other boys in the neighborhood, in 
the spring of the year, when the snow had melted 
away from the New England hills, would take a 
piece of glass, and hold it up to the warm rays of 
the sun, and that these rays would strike through 
the glass, and set the woods and grass on fire, and 
that these escapades caused the neighbors much 
trouble and anxiety. 

Mr. Moody said that when he was a boy, his 
mother used to send him out to get a birch stick to 
whip him with, when it was necessary that he be 
punished, which was quite often. He said that at 
first he used to stand off from the rod as far as he 
could, but that he soon learned that the whipping 
hurt him more that way, and so after that he always 
went as near his* mother as he could, and found that 
she could not strike him so hard. 

He said that among the other things which he did 
on the farm, was the hoeing of corn, and that he 
used to hoe it so badly in order to get over as much 
ground as he could, that at night he had to put down 
a stick so as to know next morning where he had 
left off. 

Mr. Moody said he had little faith in prayer in- his 
boyhood days, but that faith came to him in the fol- 
lowing manner. He was creeping under a heavy 
fence, and it fell down and caught him, so that he 
could not get away. He struggled until he was 



46 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 

quite exhausted, and then began to cry for help, but 
he was so far from any house no one heard him. 
He then began to think that he should have to die 
away up there on fhe mountain all alone, but then 
he happened to remember that maybe God would 
help him, and so he asked Him, and he said that he 
was greatly surprised to see that he could lift the 
rails so easily. 

It was at the earnest entreaty of his mother that 
in the latter part of his school days, he attempted 
to do some hard studying. His last term at school 
was in the winter of his seventeenth year, but his 
resolution to gain a little knowledge came so late, 
that although he studied very hard, it availed him 
little. 

Whatever religious impressions he had felt in 
childhood, seemed to have been covered out of sight, 
and he grew up to be a young man with no other 
piety in him than the love of his mother and a 
sturdy determination to be an honest and successful 
man. He was endowed with a determination that 
he would succeed somehow, and his deficiencies in 
education were over-balanced by a bold push aided 
by a ready wit, which carried l\im over many diffi- 
culties, before which a wiser but less courageous 
boy would have quailed in despair. 



CHAPTER III. 



LIFE IN BOSTON. 

Young Moody at the age of seventeen left North- 
field with his mother's permission to seek employ- 
ment He first went to Clinton, where he had a 
brother who was a clerk in a store, but finding noth- 
ing there to suit him, he pushed on to Boston. His 
uncle, Samuel Holton, a successful merchant of Bos- 
ton, had visited the old home a little while before, 
and Dwight had asked him for a place in his boot 
and shoe store. The uncle, knowing what a wild 
young colt he was, had refused, fearing to take him 
to a great city, where the chances were that he 
would go straight to ruin. But the young man was 
determined to show his uncle that he could find, or 
make a place for himself without help from any 
one. Accordingly, much to that excellent gentle- 
man's surprise, his nephew one day made his 
appearance in his store, not to ask for a place but 
just as a visitor. 

His uncle, Lemuel, a younger brother of his 
mother, lived in Boston, and at his house young 
Moody was made welcome. He at once began to look 
for a situation, but did not succeed very well. The 
odor and the air of the farm were upon him ; the 
touch of the mountain breeze was still in his cheeks, 
and these distinguished him from the dwellers in 
47 



48 LIFE IN BOSTON. 

the city. His clothes were not of the fashionable 
cut of the day. In some places they were shiny; 
in others, seedy, and his trousers bagged at the knee. 
At this time he was so unfortunate as to inherit a big 
boil on his neck, which forced his head to rest on 
one side, and gave him a comical, if not a grotesque 
appearance, and of course this did not help his pros- 
pects for obtaining a situation. 

At the end of a week he was much disgusted, but 
not discouraged; he began to think that nobody in 
Boston appreciated him, and he did have a very fair 
idea of his own worth. He came to the conclusion 
that he must move on, and he picked upon New 
York as the place to which he thought it would be 
well to go. All his money was gone, and he knew 
that he must make the journey on foot, if he went 
at all, as he had nothing which he could sell to raise 
more funds. His uncle Lemuel asked him if he had 
called upon his uncle Samuel for aid to a situation. 

'*No," said D wight, "he knows that I am looking 
for a place, and he may help me or not just as he 
pleases." 

His pride, however, was beginning to bend just a 
little, but it was by no means ready to break. He 
was adrift in a world which seemed to care for him 
no more than the ocean waves care for a floating 
piece of cork wood. His uncle Lemuel thought it 
might be well to give the young man some advice, 
so he gave him a good fatherly talk. He told him 
that his self-will was greatly in his way, and that 
modesty was sometimes as needful as courage, and 
suggested that his uncle Samuel would no doubt be 
glad to do something for him, if he should show 



LIFE IN BOSTON. 51 

himself a little more willing to be governed by peo- 
ple who were older and wiser than himself. 

Acting upon this advice, he was kindly received 
by his uncle Samuel, who consented to give him a 
place as a salesman in his store upon the following 
conditions : 

That he was to board at some place to be selected 
by his uncle. 

That he was not to be out in the streets after 
night, or go to places of amusement, which his 
uncle did not approve. 

That he was regularly to attend the Mount Ver- 
non (Congregational) church and Sunday-school. 

His uncle was a successful business man. He, 
too, had come to Boston in his youth, and knew of 
the snares and temptations to which a young man 
was subjected, and he was satisfied that if young 
Dwight would adhere strictly to the code he had laid 
down for him, that he would succeed. He had for 
many years been a member of the Mount Vernon 
church, and he knew that the young man would be 
sure to find there good companions, a thing which 
he considered of vital importance. To the three 
conditions above enumerated, a general one was 
added, which was that Dwight was to be governed 
by the judgment of his uncle rather than his own; 
or, in other words, that he was to give due obedi- 
ence to his superiors. 

Young Moody was in such a state of mind, and 
was so thankful for the aid which his uncle had 
offered him, that he readily agreed to all of the con- 
ditions, and to his credit, it may be said that he 
kept them faithfully. A home was found for him in 

a Christian family, who lived in humble style, but 
4 



52 LIFE IN BOSTON. 

the moral atmosphere was such that it more than 
compensated for any lack of bodily comforts. A 
feeling- natural to one in his condition, sprung up in 
the breast of young Moody, and that was that the 
people with whom he came in contact in his church 
and business life felt that they were just a little bit 
better than he. He saw that he had neglected his 
opportunities in the country school, and that his 
meagre education had not fitted him to shine in cul- 
tivated society. For a time he was unhappy, but he 
steadily held to his purpose of conquering a place 
for himself in the world, and he felt sure of ultimate 
success. 

He was a sharp, shrewd boy, a keen observer of 
man and things, even at that early age, and was 
possessed after a short time, with a judgment rare 
in a boy who had been raised under such environ- 
ments. What he lacked in knowledge he made up 
in shrewd guessing, and within three months after 
he entered the store of his uncle, he was the best 
salesman in the house. His idea of business was a 
struggle with mankind, out of which the hardest 
heads and the sharpest wits were sure to come with 
the largest influence and the longer purse. His 
uncles were quiet men and conservative. Dwight 
was opposed to silence and conservatism. Their 
ideas were not his ideas, although their aim may 
have been the same. They were slow and method- 
ical; he was brusque, impulsive and aggressive. 
He had a high sense of what he thought was right, 
and was quick to resent what he deemed any attack 
upon his honor. These little tempests of passion 
soon passed away, however. It may be imagined 
that this peculiar characteristic of the young man 



LIFE IN BOSTON. 53 

sometimes created consternation in the conservative 
old business hduse, and it required splendid diplo- 
matic ability on the part of the superiors to keep 
peace among the inferiors. 

The church which his uncle required him to attend 
was Congregational in its character, and was one of 
the most orthodox and excellent in all that section 
of the country. Its pastor, Dr. Kirk, was a man of 
magnificent physique, of great knowledge, of cap- 
tivating manners, and great oratorical powers. He 
was such a man as would naturally draw to him a 
character such as that of young Moody. No ordi- 
nary preacher would have been able to have done 
this. Young Dvvight saw in this minister a man 
who was a success. 

Mr. Edward Kimball was the teacher of the Bible 
class, in which he was placed in the Sunday-scho®l. 
His first visits to the class were by reason of his 
agreement with his uncle, but it was with evident 
weariness and impatience that he listened to the 
lessons and explanations. The teacher stated in 
speaking of the affair in after years that he did not 
seem to be able to get hold of the young man, and 
that he even felt that he was failing to interest him, 
but that one Sunday, the lesson happened to be 
about Moses, and that he noticed that the young 
boy listened with considerable attention, and was 
at last so interested as to actually ask a question, 
the first remark he had made. The teacher received 
the question with much favor, and enlarged upon it 
much to the youth's satisfaction. The boy soon 
began to take an interest in his teacher, but his dis- 
like for the Sunday-school and the church seemed 
to be growing. It seemed to him that the people 



54 LIFE IN BOSTON. 

were so rich, so proud and so pious, that they lived 
in a different world from his. The youth of his age 
wore better clothes, and spent a great deal of money, 
and he felt that he could not imitate them. There- 
fore, he considered himself a victim of misfortune, 
and had a habit of revenging himself, as many peo- 
ple do under like circumstances, by denouncing his 
more fortunate fellow creatures for their pride. It 
was not long, howei er, before the spirit of God be- 
gan to make itself manifest in his soul. His heart 
gradually began to soften. He thought often of 
the lessons taught him by his mother, and he began 
again to pray the Lord to help him to be good. One . 
day his Sunday-school teacher came to him in his 
place of business, and putting his hand kindly upon 
his shoulder, inquired if he would not give his heart 
to Christ. The question awakened him, and he be- 
gan to seek the Savior in earnest, and in a little while 
he began to feel that he had been converted. Years 
afterward, he used to say: "I can feel the touch of 
that man's hand on my shoulder yet." He carried 
into his religion the same enthusiasm that he used 
in his business, and he soon began to speak in the 
meetings of the church, telling what God had done 
for his soul, and sometimes adding a piece of ex- 
hortion, which was not always flattering to the ele- 
gant believers around him, and which was many 
times received with disfavor. 

It is related that one good lady, a member of the 
congregation, one of those prim, stately old New 
England damsels, who doubtless traced her ancestry 
back to the Mayflower pilgrims, called upon his 
uncle Samuel, and requested that he advise the 
young man to remain silent until he should become 



LIFE IN BOSTON. 55 

more able to edify the meetings. His uncle replied 
that he was glad his nephew had the courage to 
profess his faith in such presence, and declined to 
put anything in his way. 

In the course of time, he made application to be 
received into the Mount Vernon church, and went 
before the deacons to be examined as to his faith 
and doctrine. His early training in religious mat- 
ters had been in a general way. He had not been 
taught the catechism of any creed. His mother was 
a believer in the Bible, and explained it according 
to her light without reference to any particular sect. 
Thus it was that when he came to pass the strict 
doctrinal examination, he found himself illy quali- 
fied. There was nothing lacking in his faith, but 
his doctrine was lamentably weak. Orthodox the- 
ology had made little impression upon him. He 
was completely at sea on the questions propounded 
to him by the deacons, but he was familiar with his 
duty to Christ, to the church and the world, and he 
was willing and anxious to do it. The deacons did 
not take kindly to this kind of theology. In those 
days, doctrine was one of the great things neces- 
sary to a man's salvation, and he who had not doc- 
trinal points at the end of his tongue, was not, in 
their judgment, considered a fit candidate for full 
church membership. They wanted the young man 
to succeed, they wanted him to become a member of 
their church, but they could not see their way clear 
to accepting him at that time. They, therefore, 
proposed to put him on probation. This the young 
man accepted, and continued his heavenward course, 
meanwhile imbibing a number of the doctrinal 
points. After a time, he made a second applica- 



56 LIFE IN BOSTON. 

tion, and at the May communion, in the year 1855, 
he was received into the church. Some years 
afterward, Dr. Kirk, the pastor, was in Chicago, 
and heard the young man preach, stayed at his 
house, preached in his pulpit, and conversed with 
the people about him, and when he returned East, 
he called upon Moody's uncle Samuel, and said to 
him: 

*'We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. There is 
that young Moody, whom we thought did not know 
enough to be in our church and Sunday-school, ex- 
ercising a greater influence for Christ than any other 
man in the great Northwest." 

Mr. Moody never forgot the kind help of his 
teacher, Mr. Kimball. He claimed it as one of the 
sweetest experiences of his life when he had become 
a successful evangelist. Many years after, when 
Mr. Moody was holding some meetings in Boston, a 
young man came to him after the service and intro- 
duced himself as the son of Mr. Kimball. Mr. 
Moody was, of course, delighted to see him, and at 
once inquired if he was a Christian. The young 
man answered that he was not. 

"How old are you?" asked Mr. Moody. 

"Seventeen," replied the young man. 

"Just my age," said Mr. Moody, "when your 
father led me to the Savior, and that was just sev- 
enteen years ago this very day. Now, I want to 
pay him by leading his son to Christ. ' ' 

The young man was deeply impressed. They 
went into a pew together. Mr. Moody prayed with 
him, and received his promise to give his heart to 
Christ. Soon afterward, he received a letter from 



LIFE IN BOSTON. 67 

his old teacher, in which he said that his son had 
found peace in believing. 

Mr Moody carried his busine^ss push into the 
church, and Dr. Kirk was many times obliged to 
put an extinguisher on the young man, who always 
wanted to talk. He reminded one of a steam-engine 
in his enthusiasm. His conversion seemed to force 
him to want to do something more than was being 
done in the church. He could not understand that 
a man could be a conservative Christian. He 
thought that he must always be fighting sin in 
whatever guise he found it. He believed that the 
old bones needed rattling up. He wanted to set the 
church members to working, but they did not take 
kindly to innovations. He began to think that a 
change of scene was what he needed. He had heard 
and read much of the West, and he believed that 
there he would have better opportunities for fulfill- 
ing his business aspirations, and a freer range for 
his religious convictions. So, in 1856, in the month 
of September, he left Boston, and a few days later 
arrived in Chicago. 



CHAPTER IV. 



BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 

When Mr. Moody arrived in Chicago, he carried 
letters of introduction to a number of merchants in 
the boot and shoe line, this being the only class of 
business with which he was familiar, he had little 
trouble in securing a situation with a Mr. Wiswall. 
He conducted a flourishing store on Lake Street. 
The young Yankee soon made his influence felt, 
there was a hustle about him which pleased his 
employer and caused his fellow clerks to look on in 
astonishment. He earned every cent of salary that 
was paid him and it was raised more than once in 
a few years in which he remained in the business. 
He introduced new ideas constantly. In those days 
it was the habit of clerks to sit around and read the 
papers when no customers were within, this young 
Moody never did. If no buyers appeared at the 
store he went out after them, he beat about the 
hotels, depots and other places where he was likely 
to fall in with merchants from the country. When 
he found them he had a faculty of persuading them 
that the goods which he sold were far superior in 
every respect to the goods sold by other people in 
the same line of business, and that the methods and 
business integrity of his firm was the superior of 
all. It is the general impression of all who knew 
his early prospects, that if he had devoted his 
68 



BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 61 

life to business he would have become one of 
the recognized commercial men of the United 
States, and perhaps one of its wealthiest merchants. 
His enterprise, organizing powers and financial 
ability were recognized and remarked upon at all 
times. His friends tried in every way to persuade 
him to stick to a mercantile career, but he was not 
to be turned from his decision to devote his life to 
the saving of souls. No better evidence of Mr. 
Moody's business ability can be cited than the suc- 
cessful operation of the splendid settlement of 
schools at Northfield, and of the Bible Institute and 
its attendant features here in Chicago. 

One of the first acts of Mr. Moody, when he 
removed to the West, was to join the First Congre- 
gational Church of Chicago, and to hire therein not 
one but four pews, he had determined that any 
money which he received for his services, and which 
was not necessary to the support of his mother and 
her family in Northfield, and not necessary for the 
defraying of slight expenses necessary for his own 
support, should be applied to the spreading of the 
gospel, he believed that as he gave so would he 
prosper, that he could do more good for himself and 
for others by giving a quarter instead of a tenth of 
his income to Christ, so that one of the things that 
he did with his surplus income was to expend it in 
this unique manner of hiring four pews in a church. 
Having secured the pews, the next thing was to fill 
them, this, however, was not a difficult task. He 
went into the highways and by-ways and brought in 
the scum of the earth. Some of the good aristo- 
cratic church members did not fancy this sort of 
evangelism, but the minister was a godly man and 



62 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 

believed that this young parishoner was on the right 
track. This work, however, was too slow for this 
Yankee enthusiast, he wanted to fill the church, but 
as that was not to be thought of, he must find some 
other method of satisfying his ambition for work. 

He applied for the position of the teacher of one 
of the Mission Sunday-schools, and was informed 
that the school was well supplied. They said, how- 
ever, if he could bring in his own class, they would 
certainly not object to his teaching them and that 
he would be given the best of support. They inti- 
mated to him that it was not teachers that they 
wanted, but scholars, that it was not much trouble 
to find teachers, the trouble was to find some one to 
teach. 

On the next Sunday the new candidate for teach- 
er's honors, appeared with a procession of eighteen 
as ragged, rowdy, barefooted lot of young "hood- 
lums" as ever crossed the threshold of a place of 
worship. He had found his vocation, he was in his 
element and he knew it at once. This must be his 
life work. He became the church recruiting officer 
in all the missions and Sunday-schools in the town. 
He did not neglect his business, that went on the 
same as before, his energy seemed almost tireless, 
he worked hard all day in his business relations and 
spent the evenings and Sunday working for souls. • 

The commerce of Chicago in those days was 
largely transported by ships, and the busy docks 
was consequently a meeting place for the toughest 
characters, and he was to be seen in the lowest parts 
of a great city among them, spreading tracts, and 
offering consolation, many times to be rebuffed, 
entreating men to give up their vicious practices 



BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 63 

and turn their attention in future tp the great truths 
taught in the Scriptures. 

It was not long before Mr. Moody established a 
•mission Sunday-school of his own. He saw that a 
large territory on the north side of the river was not 
looked after by Christian people, so he rented a 
deserted saloon, the only available room to be had at 
that time, which stood near the North Side Market. 
The location was admirable for his purpose. It was 
surrounded by fully 200 saloons and gambling dens, 
and the streets, alleys and tenements swarmed with 
men, women and children. His previous scout work 
had made him acquainted with the habits of these 
people and he did not fear but that he could soon 
make his school a success. 

A gentleman who visited this school in its first 
days described it as being bare of chairs and tables, 
most of the scholars being obliged to stand up along 
the wall. Mr. Moody had an old box for a seat, and 
his plan was to group the children around him, with 
perhaps one on his knee, and read to them chapters 
from the Bible any explain it according to his light. 
It was about this time when he began to note his 
own deficiency in education, and this caused him to 
call upon people who were well equipped for Sunday- 
school work to aid him. 

One of Mr. Moody's best qualifications for this 
work was his intense love for children; he never 
seemed happier than when in the midst of a jolly 
group of youngsters with whom he could romp and 
play to his heart's content. 

Mr. Frank Keefer, of Hammond, Ind. , who was an 
attendant at the North Side Moody school, relates 
that at one time Mr. Moody gave a picnic to his 



64 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 

scholars out on the Des Plaines river ; the day was 
an ideal one in the country, and everything was in 
the full beauty of life, while the sun beamed bright 
and warm. He remembers that Mr. Moody was 
attired in along linen duster and presented anything 
but a distinguished appearance. During the day 
Mr. Moody gave his boys what he called a treat. 
He had secured several large sacks of apples and he 
went through the crowd pouring them out to see 
the boys scramble after them. He highly enjoyed 
the performance, but when he had finished he did 
not have much left worth speaking of in the way of 
clothes. 

One of Mr. Moody's plans was to approach his 
intended scholars with candies, apples and toys, thus 
gain their confidence, and finally get them into the 
school. When he got them there once he had no 
fear but that they would return. Several men are 
now living who were members of that school, and 
they state that although at the time they had no 
deep religious convictions yet there was something 
about Mr. Moody and his methods that drew them to 
him and made the Sunday-school a desirable place 
to go, although the outside attractions were certainly 
very inducing in those days. 

Thus early Mr. Moody realized the value of music, 
and believed it to be one of the strong points 
which would hold his Mission school together. He 
secured the services of Mr. Trudeau, a musical 
friend, and installed him as chorister. It was not 
long before the school began to grow to such propor- 
tions that Mr. Moody saw he must make other 
arrangements to accommodate the crowd. He, 
therefore, obtained permission of Mayor Haines to 



BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 65 

use the hall over the old North Market. This hall 
had generally been used on Saturday nights for a 
dance, and it took most of the forenoon on Sunday 
to sweep out the debris, such as sawdust, tobacco 
and beer stain. There were no furnishings in this 
room, but Mr. Moody took it upon himself to do the 
financial work and soon succeeded. Among those 
whom he called on was Mr. J. V. Farwell, the mil- 
lionaire merchant prince of Chicago. Mr. Farwell 
succumbed to the blandishments of Mr. Moody and 
subscribed money enough to furnish the hall. After 
Mr. Moody received his subscription he asked Mr. 
Farwell what he was doing in the way of personal 
work for Christ. Mr. Farwell told him, and Mr. 
Moody finding that all his time was not occupied, 
suggested that he visit his Sunday-school on the 
next Sunday. Mr. Farwell did so and was surprised 
on his arrival there to learn that Mr. Moody had 
nominated him as Superintendent. He hesitated 
somewhat about accepting the office, but Mr. Moody 
insisted, however, that he should try it, and he did, 
and thus began a friendship which lasted throughout 
Mr. Moody's life. The school grew from seventy- 
five scholars to 200 in three months; there were 350 
scholars in six months, and within a year the aver- 
age attendance was 650. It was estimated that 
fully 2,000 children passed through the school a year. 
Mr. Moody not only did scout work for his Sunday- 
school, but in his travels through the lowly districts 
of Chicago he found many cases of want and his 
energies were largely turned in the direction of 
relieving the distress of such people as came under 
his observation. In order to do this he had to call 
upon his friends ; this circle he extended wider and 



66 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 

wider each year until he knew every prominent 
business man in Chicago, and it has been stated that 
there was not a single one of them but had contrib- 
uted more or less to Mr. Moody's plans. 

During these labors at the North Market Street 
Mission he attended to his duties of a traveling sales- 
man. This made his work much harder, because he 
would frequently be miles from Chicago toward the 
end of the week, but he had made an arrangement 
with his employers that he was to spend his Sundays 
at home and he never allowed anything to interfere 
with this. It is not to be supposed that he had 
clear sailing in his Sunday-school work. There was 
a strong Catholic element living on the North Side 
at that time and among the boys were numbered sev- 
eral who were certainly anything but sa,ints. These 
boys broke windows constantly in the old Market 
Hall, and did other things which annoyed Mr. 
Moody very greatly. He knew it would be of little 
use to expostulate with the boys and less use to expos- 
tulate with their parents, and he determined to go 
to the fountain head and see what could be done. 
He, therefore, called upon the Catholic Bishop of 
Chicago and laid the matter before him. The Bishop 
was surprised, of course, but Mr. Moody won him 
over and the Bishop issued an order which prevented 
any further disturbances. 

After his school had been fully established, he de- 
termined to give all his service to Christian work, and 
the manner in which this was brought about is told 
in "another place in this work. He made it a prac- 
tice to speak to one unconverted man each day, and 
he has related many instances of his work in this 
manner. 



BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 67 

On the 28th of August, 1862, he entered into mar- 
riage with Miss Emma C. Rev^ell, who still survives 
him. She is a sister of Fleming H. Revell, the well 
known Chicago publisher. Two children were born 
of this union while they resided in Chicago and one 
child after they removed to Northfield, all of whom 
survive. 

With his work during the war, on the Christian 
Commission, he found time, in 1863, to erect a large 
building in Illinois Street, at a cost of §20,000, and 
removed his mission and church from the North 
Market Hall to that place when it was completed. 
He did not give up his work with the Y. M. C. A. 
by any means. He determined that the Association 
should have a permanent hall and this he secured 
for them. It was known as "Farwell Hall," and 
was dedicated on September 29, 1867. 



CHAPTER V. 



I 



HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 

Mr. Moody was one of the first members of the 
Y. M. C. A. of Chicago, in 1858, when that organ- 
ization opened its room at 205 Randolph street. He 
continued his work, and, in 1864, was made a mem- 
ber of a special committee for the procuring of 
ground and the erection of a permanent building. 
As a result of this work, the first building of the 
Association was dedicated at 148 Madison street, in 
1867. He was president of the Association from 
1865 to 1869. One of the principal reasons ascribed 
for the success of the Y. M. C. A. was the daily 
prayer-meetings and the religious efforts growing 
out of it. Mr. Moody was the leading spirit, and 
gathered round him a band of men who were win- 
ners of souls. The very atmosphere of the rooms 
of the Association was one of prayer and praise. 
Although the appointments were very modest and 
plain, the spirit of those who met in those daily ser- 
vices was one of remarkable consecration. 

The good effected by the Y. M. C. A. in connec- 
tion with the United States Christian commission 
during the civil war was altogether incalculable, 
many of whom were among the first who responded 
to the call for 75,000 men, and from that time to the 
capture of Richmond the labor of societies were un- 
68 



HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 69 

remitting to aid and comfort soldiers in camp and 
on the battle-field. 

A large chapel was erected in Chicago where there 
was preaching and prayer-meetings every day. The 
hospitals were visited by regular agents who sup- 
plied all the needs of the soldiers during sickness 
and convalescence. Dwight L. Moody was the first 
regular army agent of the societies. 

Camp Douglas, in Chicago, was selected for a mil- 
itary prison by the United States authorities, and 
many men who had fought in the Confederate army 
were brought there for safety. Mr. Moody and his 
co-workers saw in this camp, which was tenanted 
alike by Union and Confederate forces, a need of 
spiritual instruction. He, therefore, put forth his 
efforts to do all the good he could in the camp, and 
held meetings there as often as his affairs and the 
exigencies of the camp would permit. 

From Camp Douglas he went to other camps of 
the army, and for years his familiar face and pleas- 
ant voice were seen and heard in many places where 
blood ran in streams. 

At the close of the war, there was organized what 
was known as the American Christian Commission, 
which held conventions in many cities of the country, 
among the most notable of which were the ones held 
in Boston, Minneapolis, and Des Moines, Iowa, in 
1866; Leavenworth, Kansas; Minneapolis, Pitts- 
burg, and Grinnell, Iowa, in 1867; St Louis, Phil- 
adelphia, Peoria, Detroit, Terre Haute, Columbus, 
and terminating with the great national convention 
held in Marble Church, New York, in 1868. At 
each of these conventions Mr. Moody presided, and 
was the moving spirit of the meetings. His work 



70 HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 

in the Christian Commission brought him more than 
local fame, but his work in these conventions made 
him known to people all over the United States, and 
the culmination was in the' New York meeting when 
he answered the questions and expounded his views 
on the Bible against Dr. John Hall and Rev. Henry- 
Ward Beecher. In the judgment of the contempo- 
rary critics, he came out with the fullest of honors. 

At the close of the work of the Comriiission, he 
came back to Chicago, occasionally making visits 
here, there and elsewhere, for the purpose of hold- 
ing revivals. He began to be much sought after and 
he thought that perhaps it would be best to give up 
his local work in Chicago and vicinity, an(J traverse 
more ground. 

In a history of the First Congregational Church 
of Chicago for the quarter- century ending in 1876, 
appeared the following : "In closing the records of 
this portion of our history a brief word ought to be 
spoken respecting the peculiarly close relation sus- 
tained by this church to the evangelistic work of our 
honored brother, Dwight L. Moody, Major T. W. 
Whittle, and P. P. Bliss. It is a matter of pardon- 
able pride that when Brother Moody was canvassing 
the question of duty as to his future work, when 
some ridiculed his illiterateness, were offended at 
his plain, blunt way of putting the gospel truth; 
when some pulpits were shut against him, and some 
Christian people were disposed to think him a clown, 
not to say a fool, this church had, as a whole, only 
sympathy, this pulpit only a welcome and a God- 
speed. And I know that this hearty fellow^ship and 
regard were most grateful and inspiriting to him. 

"The first Bible-reading he gave in this city, or 



HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 71 

gave anywhere, as covering the new method of evan- 
gelistic labor which was shaping itself before his 
mind, he gave in the lecture-room of this church, 
and the work of that series of twelve readings 
greatly encouraged this dear brother to continue in 
his chosen work. Church and pastor were one in 
this. You never found fault with me for welcoming 
him so heartily to this pulpit. You never sneered 
at his broken, unpolished utterances, his faulty 
grammar. You agreed with me, that taught in the 
schools or taught only in the closet, ordained by the 
laying on of men's hands, or ordained only by the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, whosoever he might be, 
that evinces the seal of God's approval on his en- 
deavor to lead men to Christ, he should have our 
heartiest fellowship, our sincerest prayers. 

"Brother Whittle is our rightful ambassador, for 
he was converted under the ministry of this pulpit. 
Brother Bliss, whom Brother Moody feels to be as 
truly raised up of God in his service of gospel song, 
as was Charles Wesley, is still one of our household, 
and thank God for this fellowship. They all pray 
earnestly for us as we do for them ; and may God 
grant to endue both them and us with a double por- 
tion of His Spirit, and in the future exalt through 
all our labors, as never before, the gospel of salva- 
tion through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ." 

In speaking of Moody's Y. M. C. A. work, Rev. 
F. G. Ensign, superintendent of the American 
Sunday-school Union, says: "The services of 
D wight L. Moody in the early days of the Young 
Men's Christian Association were of inestimable 
value, and his influence has remained through all 
these later years as a benediction. From 1861 to 1870 



72 HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 

no man was so constant and persistent in the work as 
was Mr. Moody. He gave to it the first labors of his 
early days, and the ripe thoughts of his mature 
years. As a well-known business man, in whose 
store Mr. Moody was once employed, said: 'Mr. 
Moody would make quite a good clerk if he had not 
so many other things on his hands. ' Those other 
things were the eternal interests of his fellow men, 
and such a spirit as his could not be long confined 
even by the bounds that hold most men to the 
appointed desks by which they earn their daily 
bread. With an enthusiasm which could not be 
dampened, and an energy which never abated, Mr. 
Moody pursued his arrow-straight course. 

' 'What he has done for communities and nations 
during these latter years, he did for the Association 
during his early days. It would be impossible to 
estimate his usefulness to the Association, or to cat- 
alogue the details of his successful work. The asso- 
ciation claims him as its greatest single champion 
and honors him for the work that he did while here 
not less than for the work for the world's evangel- 
ization, which he has since pursued with great suc- 
cess. It rejoices that one whose training was in part 
obtained in its service should be so manifestly called 
of God to the great work in which he has since 
engaged. ' ' 



CHAPTER VI. 



FIRST MEETING WITH BLISS. 

Mr. P. P. Bliss, who is known as the sweet singer 
and great song-writer, tells of his first meeting with 
Mr. Moody, in 1869. Mr. Moody at that time was 
holding gospel services in Woods' Museum, Chi- 
cago, which stood near the corner of Clark and Ran- 
dolph Streets. Previous to his holding services in 
the theater, he was accustomed to speaking in the 
open air from the steps of the court house. Mr. 
Bliss said that one Sunday evening, accompanied by 
his wife, they went out for a walk, and passing up 
Clark Street, they came to the open air meeting. 
"I was at once attracted by the earnestness of the 
speaker, who was Mr. Moody, and waiting until he 
closed with an earnest appeal for all to follow him 
to the theater, we decided we would go, and fell in 
with the crowd. I spent the evening in his meeting 
there. That night Mr. Moody was without his usual 
leader for the singing, and the music was rather 
weak. From the audience I helped what I could on 
the hymns, and attracted Moody's attention. At 
the close of the meeting, he was at the door shaking 
hands with all who passed out, and as I came to him 
he had my name and history in about two minutes, 
and a promise that when I was in Chicago Stinday 
evenings, I would come and help in the singing at 
the theater meetings. This was the commencement 
73 



74 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 



i 



of our acquaintance. I sang at the theater meet- 
ings often after that, and making longer stops in 
Chicago in connection with writing music, I was 
often at the noon meeting, and was frequently made 
use of by Mr. Moody in his various gatherings. ' ' 

Mr. Bliss was engaged in holding revival services 
in different cities in connection Vv^ith Major Whittle 
for several years and was very successful. His 
music is still used in Sunday-schools. 

Phillip Paul Bliss was born in Clearfield County, 
Pa., July 9, 1838, in the usual log house occupied 
by the English settlers of the mountain and forest 
region of northern Pennsylvania. In February, 
1844, the family moved to Kinsman, Trumbull 
County, Ohio, where they resided three years. In 

1847, the family returned to Pennsylvania, residing 
in Esterville, Crawford County, and, in November, 

1848, they removed to Tioga County. Mr. Bliss was 
one of sixteen children, all but two of whom died in 
infancy. When about ten years of age, he had his 
first piano, and he thought it was the sweetest music 
that had ever been produced. He worked on a farm 
in his early days, that is, from the time he was 
eleven until he was sixteen years of age. A portion 
of this time, however, he was enabled to obtain a 
little schooling. He was converted by a Baptist 
minister in 1850, and was immersed in a creek near 
his own home by a minister of the Christian church, 
who was holding meetings in that neighborhood. 

In 1855, he spent the winter in a select school at 
East Troy, Bradford County, Pa. In 1856, he 
worked on a farm in the summer, and taught school 
in the winter at Hartsville, Allegheny County, N. 
Y. The following winter he passed at Towanda, 



LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 75 

Pa. , and at Towner Hill. Here he met for the first 
time J. G. Towner, who was afterward associated 
with him in concerting. The same winter he at- 
tended the musical convention at Rome, Pa. This 
did much to strengthen his growing passion for 
music. In 1858, he was at Almond, N. Y., and in 
the winter of that year he taught in the Rome 
Academy, at Rome, Pa. He became acquainted 
with O. F, Young, whose family were singers. He 
fell in love with the eldest daughter, Lucy, and, on 
June I, 1859, they were married at the little town of 
Wysocks; the year after his marriage he worked on 
the farm for his father-in-law, and received for his 
support $13 a month, the amount usually paid to 
farm hands. In the winter he commenced teaching 
music at Bradford County for $2 an evening and 
board. His first musical composition was written in 
1864, and published in 1865 by Root & Cady. It 
was called "Lora Vale." From 1864 to 1876, for 
twelve years, his pen was usually giving expression 
to songs that came thronging through his mind. 
He was twenty-six years old when he wrote his first 
song, and thirty-eight when he wrote his last. 

His first meeting with Mr. Geo. F. Root, of Chi- 
cago, was in 1863 or 1864. When he went to Illinois 
to hold musical conventions and give concerts, he 
connected himself with the musical publishing firm 
at that time, and took editorial charge of the "Musi- 
cal Visitor. " Mr. Bliss continued to hold revival 
meetings first with the Rev. D. W. Whittle, and 
then with Mr. Moody. Among his famous songs 
was "Hold the Fort, for I Am Coming," which was 
taken from the message sent by General Sherman 
to the command which was holding Kenesaw moun- 



76 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 

tain during the civil war. This was written m 1870. 
In September, 1876, he visited Mr. Moody at North- 
field, and spent a week with him there. He accom- 
panied him during that visit to Greenfield, Brattle- 
boro, Keene, and adjacent towns, and sang at the 
meetings Mr. Moody conducted. In October of that 
same year, he was present at the Moody and Sankey 
opening service in Chicago. He did not participate 
in any of the Chicago meetings in a public way, but 
for three weeks was a constant attendant. On Octo- 
ber 2ist he went to Kalamazoo, his wife accompany- 
ing him. He sang at the Young Ladies' Seminary at 
the Baptist College. From the nth to the 21st of 
November, 1876, he was at Jackson, Mich., holding 
meetings. On the 25th of November he went to 
Peoria, and held a meeting. On the 14th of De- 
cember the meeting was closed, and Mr. Bliss went 
to Chicago. He left on that same evening for To- 
wanda, Pa. , where he spent Sunday with his mother, 
and sister, Mrs. Willson. It was his intention to 
return to Chicago on December 31st, when he and Mr. 
Whittle were to take up the work in that city. He 
attended nearly every meeting in the little town 
where he was visiting, his last one being on Wed- 
nesday evening, December 27th. He was full of 
the holy spirit, and sang with more than usual 
power, among the songs being '*In the Christian 
Home in Glory," "Hold Fast Till I Come," "Fa- 
ther, I Am Tired," and "Eternity." He prefaced 
his remarks on the song, "Hold Fast Till I Come," 
by saying that it was one of the first occasions of its 
being sung, and it might be the last song he should 
ever sing to them. This seemed afterward in the 
light of a premonition of his approaching end. 




o n 






§1 

O 3 



LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 79 

Thursday morning, December 28th, he took his lit- 
tle boys into a room by themselves, and prayed with 
them, and bade good-bye to all. His tickets read 
to Chicago by the way of Buffalo, on the Lake Shore 
road. He took the afternoon train at Waverley, 
and expected to be in Buffalo that night, but the 
engine of the train on which he was going was de- 
tained three hours. Upon arriving at Hornellsville 
late in the evening, they decided to wait over and 
have a night's rest. Mr. and Mrs. Bliss left there 
Friday morning, December 29th, taking the train 
which connected at Buffalo with the Chicago train, 
wrecked at Ashtabula, Ohio. There were eleven 
cars on the train, consisting of two engines, three 
baggage, one smoker, two coaches, three sleepers, 
one parlor car — probably 250 on the train. A blind- 
ing snow storm was raging when the train pulled 
out of Buffalo an hour late. Just before reaching 
the bridge at Ashtabula, the snow was very heavy, 
and the prospect was that the train would be snowed 
in. There were two passenger cars in front of the 
smoker, which did not come in the regular way, and 
next behind the smoker came the parlor car in which 
were Mr. Bliss and his wife. When the train fell, 
Mr. Bliss succeeded in crawling through a window, 
supposing he could pull his wife through with him, 
but she was jammed fast, and all efforts proved un- 
available. She was caught in the iron work of the 
seats, and finding he could not save her, he staid 
with her in an attempt to put out the fire and rescue 
her, and perished with her. 

Some of his best known pieces were: *' Hold the 
Fort," *'Pull for the Shore," "Jesus Loves Even 
Me," "We Are Going Home To-morrow," "More 
5 



80 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 

to Follow," "The Light of the World Is Jesus," 
"Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," "Almost 
Persuaded," "What Shall the Harvest Be?" "Hal- 
lelujah, It Is Done." 



CHAPTER VII, 



SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 

One of Mr. Moody's ifiost touching sermons was 
that preached at the Chicago Tabernacle, Sunday, 
Dec. 31, 1876, in i-Qemory of P. P. Bliss, who, with 
his family, perished in the Ashtabula disaster a few 
days previous. Mr. Moody's subject was "The 
Return of Our Lord." He stood in his place, and 
with manifest trouble to keep back the sobs and 
tears, he repeated those words of David, "Know ye 
not that there is a prince and a great man fallen in 
Israel." Then, almost unable to speak for weeping, 
he said: "Let us lift up our hearts to God in silent 
prayer." A long period of silence followed, broken 
by the voice of a member of the congregation, who 
gave thanks to God for eternal life. The congrega- 
tion then joined in singing "In the Christian's 
Home in Glory there remains a land of rest," after 
which Mr. Moody arose and said : 

"I was to take up the subject of our Lord's 
return, but I cannot control my feelings so as to 
speak as I had intended. I will take up that sub- 
ject at another time. When I heard last night that 
Mr. Bliss and his whole family had perished, at first 
I could not believe it, but a dispatch from a friend 
who was on the train took away all hope and left me 
face to face with death. For the past three months 
81 



82 SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 

I have seemed to stand between the living and 
dead, and now I am to stand in the place of the 
dead. Mr. Whittle and Mr. Bliss were announced 
to hold the four-o'clock meeting in the Tabernacle 
to-day, and now Mr. Farwell and Mr. Jacobs and 
Mr. Whittle, with other friends, have gone to see if 
they can find his remains to take them away for 
burial. I have been looking over his hymns to see 
if I could find one appropriate for the occasion, but 
I find that they are all like himself, full of hope and 
cheer. In all the years I have known and worked 
with him, I have never once seen him cast down, 
but here is a hymn of his I thought we might sing. 

"Once after that wreck of the steamer at Cleve- 
land, I was speaking of the circumstance that the 
lower lights were out, and the next time we met 
he sang this hymn for me. It is the 65 th in our 
collection. 

**Let us sing it now. It begins 'Brightly beams our 
Father's mercy,' but still more brightly beams the 
light along the shore to which he has passed. It 
was in the midst of the terrible storm he passed 
away, but the lights which he kindled are burning 
all along the shore. He has died young, only about 
thirty-eight years old, but his hymns are sung 
around the world. Only a little while ago we re- 
ceived a copy of these hymns translated into the 
Chinese language. 

"In spite of the mourning it is sweet to think that 
this whole family passed away together, father, 
mother, Paul, only four years old, and little George, 
only two years old, all gone home safe together 
There comes a voice to us saying 'Be still and 
know that I am God,' but we know that our Father 



SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 83 

doeth all thino:s well. My heart goes out for his 
mother. He was an only son and his mother was a 
widow. Let us just put up a prayer for his mother. 
And there was dear Mrs. Bliss who was not an inch 
behind her husband. vShe taught him how to pray 
and encouraged him with his music. I have often 
heard him say, 'All I am I owe to that dear wife.' 

"Now about that charge of his singing for money. 
The royalty on this little book has amounted to 
about sixty thousand dollars, which has been devoted 
to charitable purposes. I once asked Mr. Bliss to 
take $5,000 for himself, telling him I thought he 
needed it, but he would not take one farthing. Chi- 
cago never had a truer man. He will be appreciated 
hundreds of years hence, like Charles Wesley and 
Doctor Watts. He was raised up to sing in the 
Church of God. God be praised for such a woman; 
God be praised for such a man. " 

On this occasion the only collection ever taken in 
the Tabernacle was at the suggestion of Mr. Moody 
for the erection of a monument to Mr. Bliss, and he 
requested that as so many would want to contribute, 
that the largest contribution should not exceed 
$1.00. 

That same morning Mr. Moody preached a sermon 
at the Chicago Avenue Church, and referred to the 
work of the church, which was built in the hope 
that Messrs. Moody and Sankey would return and 
labor in Chicago through its means. Mr. Moody 
said : 

"It seems as if God is calling us to other fields, 
and I cannot help believing that if our Christian 
frie ds will just come together and pray earnestly 
to God, that the work will go on just as well without 



84 SERMONS ON R P. BLISS. 

US as if we were here. Some people get discouraged 
and think the work will not go on because we are 
not coming back. That is not the fact. Bear in 
mind that God is willing to labor through any one in 
the church who will consecrate himself to His cause. 
I cannot help believing that the best days of this 
church are in its future and not, as some think, in 
its past." Thinking of workers, Mr. Moody's 
thoughts were drawn to Mr. Bliss, concerning whom 
he said: 

"Why he was so dear to all of us and why we 
loved him so much was because he was always cheer- 
ful. We never saw him discouraged or cast down \ 
he was all the time singing about gladness. 'I am 
so glad' was the key note of all his songs. How 
pleasant it would be if every man and woman were 
full of the joy of the Lord because He is our 
strength. 

"This being the last day of the year, I have been 
looking forward to it as one of the most solemn days 
of the year, and I had prepared some thoughts to 
bring out on this occasion. But little did I think 
that it would be as solemn as it is. My thoughts 
have been drifted into another channel entirely. A 
text came into my mind when I heard of the sudden 
death of Mr. Bliss and his family. He was coming 
to the city to fill an appointment here to-day. He 
was to have been with us this morning and it seems 
almost as if I am standing in the place of the dead. 
It is always solemn to stand between the living and 
the dead, as a preacher does, but it is always more 
solemn to step into dead men's shoes, as I feel I 
have done to-day. The text that occurred to me is 
in the 24th chapter of Matthew and the 43d verse, 



SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS 85 

'Therefore be ye also ready.' Death often takes us 
by surprise, but it did not find Mr. Bliss unprepared. 
He and his wife had been ripening for heaven for 
years, and I have been thinking of that family before 
the throne this morning, singing the sweetest song 
they had ever sung. They should profit by this 
awful calamity. God was coming very near to this 
city. There was never before such an inquiring 
after God as there is now, and this last stroke of 
Providence ought to be a warning to every one 
to get in readiness to meet the Lord. It might be 
said that I am taking advantage of this catastrophe 
and preaching for effect. If people do not take this 
warning, I do not know what will move their hearts. 
There are three things every man and woman ought 
to be ready for: life, death, and judgment. Life 
is uncertain ; no man can tell at what hour nor in 
what manner death may visit him. Accidents like 
the one which occurred Friday are by no means un- 
common and might strike down any one of us. It 
therefore behooves every man to place his trust in 
Christ, so that he may be prepared to meet Him at 
any moment." 

The Evangelist was greatly moved during the 
sermon and he pleaded earnestly and tearfully that 
the audience should heed this terrible warning and 
accept Christ as their Savior. There were few dry 
eyes in the congregation when Mr. Moody resumed 
his seat. 

In the afternoon he preached again in the Taber- 
nacle from the text, "Therefore be ye also ready," 
which he said had been ringing in his head all 
day. He called upon those who had heard him 
preach for three months to bear him witness that 



SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 



he had said nothing about death, confining him- 
self to life, but it might be that before long God 
might lay him away and send some one to take his 
place, and he could not forbear saying a word urg- 
ing on all the necessity of regeneration and prepara- 
tion. His voice was more subdued than usual, and 
in all he said and all the reading from the Scriptures 
it came tremulously and mingled with tears. He 
spoke painfully and with difficulty, the words some- 
times utterly unintelligible. 

*' 'Be ye therefore ready.' Do not put it off. 
There are some who may say I am preaching for 
effect and making use of this good man's death to 
frighten you." Satan might even say that of him 
and say it truly. He zvas preaching for effect, and 
he hoped the effect would be to save the soul of 
every human being before him. He felt he must 
warn them, and would warn them of the wrath to 
come and the death pursuing. That death had sent 
many a warning during the 5^ear, and now an awful 
one had come. Many of them had looked down 
upon the dead faces and open graves of departed 
friends. Would they not heed those warnings? 
Would they not heed this last warning, which might 
be even nearer to themselves than any before. 
Death had taken them by surprise and had taken Mr. 
Bliss at the very time the speaker was writing out 
the notice of Mr. Bliss's appearance to-day. He 
and his wife were snatched from life but they were 
ready. They might have suffered for a few minutes, 
it may be for an hour, but when they reached heaven 
there was none in all the celestial choir that sang 
sweeter or played better on his golden harp than 
P. P. Bliss. 



Copyrignt, I'JoO, by Robt. O. Luv. 

i'. 1'. BLISS. 

The "Sing-ing Evangelist" and sonjr-writer, whose music was used in Mr. Moody's- 
meetings with wonderful success. 



I 



SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 89 

" 'Be ye therefore ready:' no matter how or when 
a man may die, if he is only ready. Little did Mr. 
Bliss and his wife look for what was coming and it 
seems to me that no man or woman should ever go 
on a railroad train again until they have made their 
preparation to die. We may be called upon to die 
at any time the death of martyrs. I would rather 
die like Stephen than die like Moses. I would as 
lief die like P. P. Bliss as die like Stephen. Were 
they ready? Those who went on that train saw the 
the sun go down for the last time. Many in this 
house may have seen it go down for the last time as 
they came here. Are they ready? You may fall 
down and break something, or you might have dis- 
eases of the heart that would carry you off before 
morning. Are you ready? There was no time to 
repent when they were rolling down that bank into 
that awful chaos and confusion. Some men were 
dead before they knew what had happened. God 
help the man who waited for a catastrophe before 
he repented. 

"Look at that young girl. She had a deceptive 
cough. It was all right, the doctor said, or would 
be in the spring. He said this when he knew that 
spring grasses and flowers would wave over her 
grave. How much lying is done in sick chambers 
and by death-beds! 

*'I would rather have been on that train and taken 
that awful leap and died like P. P. Bliss and his wife 
than have them go as they did, and every man 
should feel so who knows God and is ready to die. 

"O that you might profit by the calamity!" 



CHAPTER VIII. 



FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 

Mr. Moody's meeting with Mr. Sankey took place 
in June, 187 1, at Indianapolis. Both were delegates 
to the national convention of the Young Men's 
Christian Association held there at that time. It 
was at an early prayer-meeting; the singing was 
dull and doleful until Mr. Sankey was called for- 
ward to act as leader. His sweet voice and fervent 
spirit at once brought the bold evangelist to his 
side. 

"Where do you live?" asked Mr. Moody, bluntly. 

"At Newcastle, Pa.," was the answer. 

"Are you married?" 

"Yes," 

"How many children have you?" 

"One." 

"I want you with me to help me in my work in 
Chicago. ' ' 

"I cannot leave my business." 

"You must. I have been looking for you for the 
last eight years ; you must give up your business 
and come to Chicago with me. " 

"I will think of it; I will pray over it; I will talk 
it over with my wife." 

With painful reluctance Mr. Sankey severed the 
associations so dear to him at his home, and in the 
90 



FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 91 

spirit of faith joined Mr. Moody in his vast labors as 
an evangelist in Chicago, and here they worked to- 
gether in harmony and were blessed with many 
souls as their hire. 

Then came the great Chicago fire, which not only 
devastated Mr. Moody's mission and home, but 
almost the entire city. Mr. Moody was one of the first 
relief workers. He toiled day and night, forgetful 
of self, forgetful of everything except the safety of 
his family, and the rebuilding of a cit)^ in which 
had been wrought such ruin. One of his first 
thoughts was the rebuilding of his place of worship, 
and when once the thought was fixed in his mind, 
it did not take him long to execute it. Even before 
the ashes had cooled, and smoke was 5^et issuing 
from the embers, Mr. Moody began to clear away a 
place to erect his tabernacle. His enterprise 
brought him success, however, and his church was 
one of the first rebuilt in the city. He was one of 
the persons entrusted with the relief funds, and had 
a hand in distributing more than $7,000,000. 

Mr. Sankey now rejoined his family in Pennsylva- 
nia, and set about singing in conventions again 
until a telegram from ^Ir. Moody, three months 
later, said, "Come at once," and he returned to work 
in the new tabernacle in Chicago. 

Ira David Sankey was born on the 28th of 
August, 1840. His birthplace was the village of Edin- 
burgh, Lawrence County, Pa. On the paternal side, 
he came from English stock, and on the maternal, 
Scotch-Irish. His parents were natives of Mercer 
County, and were members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Out of their family of nine children, 
only three sons and one daughter grew up to ma- 



92 FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 

turity. David, the father, was well off in worldly 
circumstances, and in such good repute among his 
neighbors that they repeatedly elected him a mem- 
ber of the state legislature. He was also a licensed 
exhorter in his own church. Thus the means and 
the character of this household were such as to in- 
sure ample advantages for culture in general knowl- 
edge and spiritual truth. 

Ira, from his childhood, was noted for his joyous 
spirit and trustful disposition. The sunshiny face 
that is so attractive in his public ministry, has been 
a distinguishing feature from early boyhood, and 
very early won him the praise of being "the finest 
little fellow in the neighborhood." His father 
states: "There was nothing very remarkable in his 
early or boyhood history. The gift of singing de- 
veloped in him at a very early age. I say gift, be- 
cause it was God-given ; he never took lessons from 
anyone, but his taste for music was such that when 
a small boy he could make passable music on almost 
any kind of instrument." An old Scotch farmer, 
named Frazer, early interested himself in the little 
lad; and of his good influence Mr. Sankey thus 
spoke, at a children's meeting held in the town of 
Dundee, Scotland: "The very first recollection I 
have of anything pertaining to religious life was in 
connection with him. I remember he took me by 
the hand, along with his own boys, to the Sabbath- 
school — that old place which I shall remember to my 
dying day. He was a plain man, and I can see him 
standing up and praying for the children. He had 
a great, warm heart, and the children all loved him. 
It was years after that when I was converted, but 



FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 93 

my impressions were received when I was very 
young, from that man." 

Thus reared in a genial, religious atmosphere, 
liked and respected by all who knew him and 
accepted as a leader by his boyish comrades, Ira 
lived on till past his fifteenth year before his soul 
was converted to Christ. His conviction as a sinner 
occurred while he attended a series of special serv- 
ices held in a little church three miles from his 
home, and of which Rev. H. H. Moore was then 
pastor. At first, he was as gay as his curious com- 
panions. But an earnest Christian met him each 
evening with a few soul-searching words; and after 
a week's hard struggle, he came as a sinner to the 
Savior and found peace in acceptance. Soon after, 
when his father removed to Newcastle to assume 
the presidency of the bank, Ira became a member 
of the Methodist church, and also a pupil at the acad- 
emy at Newcastle. 

This young Christian was richly endowed with a 
talent for singing spiritual songs. His pure, beauti- 
ful voice gave a clear utterance to the emotions of 
his sympathetic, joyous nature, and was potent in 
carrying messages from his heart to the hearts of 
his hearers. It now became his delight to devote 
this precious gift to the service of his Lord, and it 
was his continual prayer that the Holy Spirit would 
bless the words sung to the conversion of those who 
flocked to the services to hear him. Before he 
attained his majority he was appointed superintend- 
ent of the Sunday-school, which contained above 
three hundred scholars; and it was blessed with a 
continual revival. His singing of the gospel invita- 
tions in solos dates from this time. These sweet 



94 FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 

hymns were sung in the very spirit of prayer, and 
the faith of the singer v/as rewared with repeated 
blessings. A class of seventy Christians was com- 
mitted to his charge, and this weighty responsibility 
made him a more earnest student of the Holy Bible. 
He encouraged his class to tell him of their condi- 
tion in Bible language, as texts abounded for every 
state of grace, and every description of religious 
feeling. The choir of the congregation also came 
under his leadership. Young as he was, he insisted 
on conduct befitting praise-singers in the House of 
God, and on a clear enunciation of each word sung. 

These congenial religious duties were suspended 
for a time by a call for defenders of the flag upon 
the fall of Fort Sumter. Mr. Sankey was among 
the first to volunteer for three months and he 
served out his term of enlistment. Even in the 
camp, he gathered about him a band of singers and 
was an earnest worker in the prayer meetings of the 
soldiers. Upon his return home, he became assist- 
ant to his father as collector of internal revenue and 
held that position with credit, until his voluntary 
resignation nearly ten years later. He was united 
in marriage on the 9th of September, 1863, to Miss 
Edwards, a helpful member of his choir and teacher 
in his school. 

He assisted in organizing a Y. M. C. A., at New- 
castle, and was elected president, and it was in this 
connection that he attended the Indianapolis conven- 
tion as a delegate. 



CHAPTER IX. 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

Mr. Moody was an exceedingly heavy eater. He 
was not capricious, by any means, as to the quality 
of his food, although he appreciated good cooking 
as well as anyone who had traveled as much as he. 
Quantity was what he wanted, and it made no 
difference how heavy a meal he ate, it never seemed 
to bother him in the least. 

One of the things which contributed to his endur- 
ance was the fact that he never got nervous, although 
many times he appeared to do so. He could lie 
down after a heavy meal, or at the close of a very 
exhausting meeting, and sleep the sleep of a child. 
It did not seem to make any difference whether at 
home, on a railway train, in a boarding-house, or a 
hotel, he appeared to sleep as well in one place as 
in the other. 

He was a bitter opponent of the church fair, and 
other form.s of amusement and entertainment. He 
thought that a man could get enough pleasure in 
walking, driving, conversing with people, or play- 
ing with children. These were the sole amusements 
in which he indulged, if amusements they might be 
called. 

His memory was remarkable. He seldom forgot 
a face, and could usually tell on the spur of the 
95 



96 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

moment where he had met some acquaintance years 
before. Many times he would remember the mi- 
nute details of the meeting-, and recall incidents that 
the acquaintance had forgotten. The distinguishing 
traits of his memory, however, were centered on 
the Bible. He could quote passage after passage, 
chapter after chapter. He seemed to know the book 
by heart, and was seldom at fault in telling one 
where to find certain passages. It has been said 
that he never forgot an anecdote. He was an ex- 
pert at handling every interesting phase of life which 
came under his notice. He never tired his auditors 
with useless explanatory words. He usually left 
something of the anecdote for their imagination. 
He had the happy faculty for selecting anecdotes to 
adorn his text, and to fix a particular point which 
he wished to impress upon the minds of his auditors. 
When one listened to his sermons, he was reminded 
of that peculiar trait in the character of Lincoln, 
which has been so strongly brought out by the his- 
torians. 

Mr. Moody was a great admirer of Lincoln, and 
in the latter part of i860 or early in 1861, Mr. Lin- 
coln visited Chicago, and was importuned by Mr. 
Moody to visit his North Side Sunday-school. Mr. 
Lincoln complied with his request. The Sunday- 
school building was crowded when Mr. Lincoln ar- 
rived, and he was greeted with cheers by the schol- 
ars. Mr. Moody insisted that Mr. Lincoln should 
talk to his boys. Mr. Lincoln wanted to know what 
he should talk about. Mr. Moody said: "Any- 
thing you like. " Whereupon the President pro- 
ceeded to instill in the minds of his youthful audi- 
tors that the greatest gifts of a nation — that the 




Copyright, IWJrby Robt. O. Law. 



IRA D. SAXKEY, 



The man who accompanied iNlr. Moody for twenty-five years, and was intimately 
associated with him in his best work. 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 99 

greatest honors which could be bestowed upon man 
— were open to any American boy, who had ambi- 
tion, and who would lead a proper course in life. 
He referred incidentally to the ^reat struggle which 
was then coming on between the North and vSouth, 
and tried to impress upon their minds a reverence 
for the flag and for their country. 

Mr. Moody was quite an admirer of Garibaldi, 
the great Italian statesman, and while he did not 
agree with him in all things, yet he did admire his 
enthusiasm. He said he never saw his name in the 
newspapers or in a book but he read what was said 
about him. He said he could not help but admire 
a man whose advocacy of the cause of freedom was 
stronger than his desire for his own comfort. 

Mr. Moody could not sing a single note and could 
hardly distinguish one tune from another. He was 
a firm believer in music, however, in religious work, 
as has been shown in several instances in this book, 
and especially in Mr. Moody's eulogy of Mr. Bliss. 

Mr. Moody was a great believer in advertising. 
He thought it should be done judiciously. He said 
one time that if business men conducted their busi- 
ness in the same manner as churches, they would 
fail inside of six months. He could not see the idea 
of having millions of dollars locked up in church 
edifices and furnishings, which were closed six days 
in the week. He said he could conceive of no 
greater waste of capital. He said that almost the 
only notice you could find on some churches was that 
of the undertaker. He thought there should be 
bulletin boards on every church. 

Mr. Moody was a firm believer in the idea that 
people would instantly know each other in heaven. 



100 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

He said on one occasion that he did not think when 
he got there that he would have any trouble in rec- 
ognizing Paul or John or Elisha, 

He expressed himself as being opposed to the the- 
ater for various reasons, but among the principal 
ones was that they had no regard for the Sabbath ; 
that it was a place where fallen women frequented 
and that in the building or near by could always 
be found a saloon. That he did not think it was 
elevating to associate in that connection with this 
kind of people, and for that reason he believed that 
one's time could be better employed elsewhere. 

In speaking of Sunday newspapers, he said that 
one of his friends one time made an analysis of the 
Sunday papers of New York. This friend had been 
advised that all of the Sunday newspapers published 
sermons and that the character of the other matter 
was such as might be safely taken into the home 
and was considered very elevating and entertain- 
ing. This friend found that a large per cent of the 
matter was sporting, murders, suicides, divorces, 
fashions, political, and foreign news, aggregating 
something like nine hundred columns, and that the 
religious news amounted to only three and a quar- 
ter columns. 

First impressions of the great evangelist were dis- 
appointing. He was neither of commanding- height 
nor striking form. He was the appearance of the 
substantial, prosperous business man of the world; 
nor was the efEect more marked after he began to 
speak. His voice, while strong and pleasant, had 
none of the magnificent qualities possessed by Henry 
Ward Beecher. He had no polish of rhetoric, nor 
elements of diction, and yet the people went in 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 101 

crowds to hear him, and were turned from the doors 
at every meeting. Some no doubt came to hear him 
through curiosity, others were drawn because of the 
interest in the work he represented, but the real 
secret lay undoubtedly in the man himself. He was 
tremendously in earnest. Rough in speech he mi^ht 
be, but he impressed you with the sense that he be- 
lieved every word that he said, that he considered 
his ideas of transcendent importance. He told plain 
truths and did not mince his words in the telling. He 
talked face to face with his audiences. He had no 
new Gospel. Disciples of newer methods of scrip- 
tural interpretation urged their views upon him, but 
he said that he had no time to investigate such 
things. He did not talk about the terrors of hell. 
He gave warnings of the consequences of evil deeds, 
encouraging to repentance. 

His success from the beginning of his work in 
getting such money as he needed for the purpose of 
benevolence has been amazing. He understood the 
secret of reaching the pockets of men of wealth. 
'Last of all the beggar died also,' is the epitaph 
which he laughingly said should be inscribed upon 
his tombstone. 

He died a poor man. Vast sums had been given 
him by people whose hearts were warmed by him 
into new life, but he accepted nothing for his own 
use. Princely royalties received from the sale of 
the popular Moody and Sankey Hymn-books have 
all been used in the support of his public work. 
Not a penny had been expended upon himself. 
There isn't a good photograph of him in existence. 
He would not permit them to be taken, lest some 
should accuse him of using the proceeds of their sales 



102 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

for private gain. He was careful to avoid every 
appearance of questionableness. He inspired abso- 
lute confidence in the integrity of his manhood. 

A writer, in describing the meetings at the Hip- 
podrome, New York, which stood on the ground 
where the Madison Square Garden now stands, in 
1876, says of Mr. Moody: 

"He is a man of another and different class from 
Mr. Sankey. Tall, stalwart, squarely, massively 
built. At first the physique and general appearance 
of the man seem heavy. The head is attached to 
the body by a short neck. The forehead is rather 
broad than high. The nose is not classical, nor are 
the eyes large or lustrous, but the whole man is 
illustrative of strength and thoroughness and seems 
to have untold source of will and determination to 
draw upon. Mr. Moody's features have been some- 
what etherealized in the engravings, and none we 
have yet seen resemble him. The head recalls 
slightly the Socratic lineaments, and Socrates had 
not a classical face. There is nothing ascetic in Mr. 
Moody's appearance, for it is blunt and hardy. He 
wears a long, flowing beard, and a heavy moustache, 
which partly hide any emotional expressions. His 
voice has its peculiarities. Naturally it must have 
been what teachers of declamation call 'an impos- 
sible voice,' but by dint of training it accomplishes 
its purpose admirably. It can be heard anywhere 
in the largest hall. If there is no grace in Mr. 
Moody, there is no awkwardness, the gestures are 
sober. He never thumps nor bangs nor forges out 
the text on imaginary anvils. ' ' 

When John Wesley felt with grief that Whitfield 
was drawing souls from his church, the grand old 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 103 

man said: "Do men gather from his amorous way 
of praying to Christ or that luscious way of preach- 
ing his righteousness in real holiness?" 

Mr. Moody's manner is heartless. It is not always 
that he is at the highest point of tension. There 
are lots of shadows in his preaching. The accu- 
mulative power which puts him in close connection 
with the thousands, and which imbues them with the 
hold feeling, is not always foreseen^ and for that 
very reason is all the more impressive. It may be 
that the first text chosen by him, which as a scrip- 
tural trellis his tree is to grow on, is too scant and 
restrictive. Incidentally he supplements this text 
with new ones, and the inspiration comes. Then 
suddenly issues forth a new growth, which bears 
both its flowers and fruits. 

Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, D. D., Vicar of St. 
Paul's, Onslow Square and Prebendary, and St. 
Paul's Cathedral, London, in writing to a religious 
journal in August, 1896, of the great Evangelist, 
said : ' ' Mr. Moody's work whether at home or abroad 
has been up-reared upon three foundations, which 
if anything can make a human work indestructible 
will certainly guarantee the after results of his toil. 

"First: Every stone has been laid upon the solid 
basis of prayer; God's grace, God's gardens and 
God's glory have been sought without ceasing, and 
before another step has been taken, whether at 
Northfield or Chicago, it has been made as certain 
as prayer, and its wonderful answers can make it, 
that the faith of the Almighty was upon the under- 
taking. Let those who will scoff at the power of 
prayer, Dwight L. bloody and his work are magnifi- 
cent testimonies to all who have the humility and 



104 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

the will to be convinced that God is, indeed, a 
pra3^er-answering God, and that they who put their 
trust in him shall never lack for wisdom or for sup- 
plies. The first power in Northfield is the power 
of prayer. 

"Second : Upon every soul with whom Mr. Moody 
has had to deal, he has unceasingly and with coura- 
geous determination impressed his simple scriptural 
capacity, which tells of the infinite love of God, of 
the perfect atonement wrought for sin, of the death 
of Lord Jesus Christ, of the absolute knowledge of 
the new birth by the Spirit, and of the wondrous 
power of that Holy Spirit to sanctify all who receive 
him into their souls. 

*' There is no uncertainty about Dwight L. Moody's 
evangelism, and while Mr. Sankey and others 
should be never forgotten, but honored and rejoiced 
over as God's power and song, and while multitudes 
hold to the sweet singer a debt of infinite gratitude, 
it is quite certain that the rock upon which all 
the educational and evangelistic results of these 
brethren have been based, is that solid rock of the 
atonement or gospel of substitution so freely 
announced by Mr. Moody and his co-workers, 
whether as preachers or singers of the gospel. 

''But not only has the divine aid been sought and 
the divine council been declared at every step of 
Mr. Moody's work, but we must if we would learn 
the real secret of its success, notice that. 

"Third: The Divine Being has in e\'ery thing and 
at all times been acknowledged as the author or 
giver of all good gifts, wisdom and money, power 
and success. 'The Lord for whose glory every step 



CHARACTER INDICATORS 105 

must be taken, and as the Master to whose guidance 
every detail must be submitted.* " 

At Northfield no man is allowed to glory in men. 
The work is the Lord's. He must rule at all points 
and receive the full honor for all that succeeds. 
Mr. Moody would be the first to acknowledge that 
he owes an incalculable debt to his mother and to 
his wife, who have so long been the blessing home 
spirits of his life. In Mr. Moody's children the 
father has living monuments of his wisdom and 
power in the home. And yet not for one moment 
either in Northfield or Chicago is any ruler acknowl- 
edged or spoken of but Jehovah. These are the 
secrets or grounds of the success which God has so 
generously given to his servant. 

Mr. James H. Whiton, in August, 1896, said of 
Mr. Moody: ''Mr. Moody ranks as high in the 
qualities of insight, prominence and energy, which 
make great administrators of business, as in those 
who make a successful evangelist. And these he 
gave a splendid administration in the organizing, 
financing and direction of the six months' evan- 
gelistic campaign in Chicago during the World's 
Fair, and yet no man ever had a more humble 
estimate of himself. If he can get others to 
speak, he prefers to listen. He values the printed 
page also, and has been busy with his pen in produc- 
ing quite a library of books or documents, some two 
dozen in all, some of which have been sold far 
above 100,000 copies. What General Booth's books 
are to his army, these are for the masses Mr. Moody 
has inspired. Some of them have been translated 
into Swedish, German and Danish-Norwegian. Nor 
are they allowed to wait for buyers. He has organ- 



106 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

ized a colportage association to spread the sale of 
these and similar books. The profits support the 
workers in their work. One book in the list is 
especially characteristic of the man, the Northfield 
edition of Bagster's Bible, especially prepared . 
according to Mr. Moody's suggestion, for the use of 
his students. 

Rev. W. C. Gannett, in an address before the 
Free Religious Society of Providence, R. L, in 1877, 
said of Mr. Moody : 

"I think the way to look at Moody and his work 
is somewhat in this wise: Here is a great religious 
phenomenon. We study the phases of history in 
religion. We watch in the lands of the present the 
Indian with his totems, the Buddhist at his shrine, 
the Mohammedan on his praying-carpet in the des- 
ert, the Roman Catholic before his ribboned and 
jeweled Virgin, the Presbyterian with his Sunday 
face — it is a family history. They are all our ances- 
tors or cousins. But here is something wondrous in 
religious happenings in our day and in our midst. 
We need not travel far in time or in space to watch 
it. Two men have been going through the capitals 
of the highest English-speaking civilization. Wher- 
ever they come, the crowd gathers before their lips, 
and light hearts grow heavy and then light again 
with a new kind of joy, and many a selfish life grows 
earnest for the time, at least, and many a drunkard 
gives up drinking and struggles as he never strug- 
gled yet before he falls again. 

"In Boston, twice or thrice a day, four and five 
and six thousand people fill a vast building to hear 
them. What go they out to see? A man big-bod- 
ied, short-necked, heavy-faced, harsh-voiced, of no 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 107 

culture, such as colleges and books supply, poor in 
grammar, poorer in pronunciation, and poverty is 
not the word to describe his lack of grace in manner. 
But here is the fact — six thousand people, men and 
women, old and young, life-tired and life-jubilant 
people, come twice a day to hear him. The edu- 
cated ministers, their usual teachers, are his serv- 
ants. He says to this man 'Speak,' and he speak- 
eth ; to that man 'Pray,' and he prayeth. Here is 
something not to be ignored or pooh-poohed away. 
Can it be explained? 

' ' The man strikes straight for your conscience, and 
he deals with certain universal forms about the con- 
science. Not all men carry ideas, not all men carry 
feelings which can be moved by a word said to them 
in common ; but every man who goes to the Taber- 
nacle carries a conscience, and knows what Moody 
means when he says straightforwardly: 'You are a 
sinner ; you need cure ; you feel mighty little power 
to cure yourself ; there is a power that can cure you ; 
lay hold of it — here it is, and be well.' And Mr. 
Moody cannot philosophize about this matter — sin ; 
he hardly tries to — is the last man to succeed if he 
tried. Neither can his audience philosophize about 
it. But that inability helps, not hinders, the effect. 
That saves time, and keeps the aim to the target. 
There is a clear track between his lips and your 
conscience. He knows what he is talking about, 
and you know, too, be the doctrine what it may. 

"Another secret is an open secret. He preaches 
in pictures and stories. A sermon of his is a cabi- 
net of anecdotes, is a little picture gallery. He 
states his point in a few words, and then, instead of 
moralizing over it, he says: 'I remember a man in 



108 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

Glasgow,' and everybody listens to find out about 
that Glasgow man. And when he is through with 
him^ the Chicago man is ready, and when he is dis- 
missed, you have Mr. Moody's point vividly etched 
on your mind ready to be carried away in memory. 
His anecdotes are anecdotes of the conscience, gath- 
ered in his long experiences, most of them moulded 
by truth into telling shapes. Not all, however. 
Some of them are very wooden yet, and sometimes 
they act like boomerangs, and lay the teaching flat. 
But he can take a little Bible incident, and fill in 
and fill in with details, until you have a special cor- 
respondent's photograph instead of two or three 
Bible verses. And this, till there is too much of it, 
is fascinating, and many people can stand a great 
deal of it. It is Sunday-school talk, and we all like 
to be treated as children in this way. In the best 
bred Temple as well as in the rough and ready Tab- 
ernacle the anecdote is often the liveliest part of 
the sermon. If I should begin right here, 'I re- 
member a man, ' you would all look up, and I should 
have you as long as I held on to him. Now, Mr. 
Moody never lets him go beyond arm's length, and 
as a consequence, everything he says is personal- 
ized, living, dramatic, easy to understand, hard to 
forget. 

"Is not that self-surrender the supreme necessity 
of here and now, if you have never made it? And 
is it not 'new birth' when made? And is it not an 
interior act that does precede all outward deeds? 
And in that inward struggle between the higher 
and the lower self, that wrestle between a conscience 
and the lawful right, that knowledge that now and 
here it must be settled. If you go off from that 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. 109 

moment of clear conviction without the self-surren- 
der to the Highest, goes not your soul towards sui- 
cide? And when, by the surrender you get upon 
God's side, feel you not as if His entire Almightiness 
were pledged to give you strength henceforth as his 
co-worker? These are only facts that you and I 
ought to be able to recognize under any symbol. 
The poor drunkard, the light-living woman, the 
selfish husband, the thieving merchant, the restless- 
hearted boy or girl, know what he means. They 
know very well that his 'Come to Jesus,' whatever 
else it means, means consecration to a new and bet- 
ter life, that to believe in Him, to accept Him, means 
a turning about — conversion. 

"They are not utter fools. It is not a pantomime 
of private theatricals — it is a conscience wrestling 
with the living God. And shall we laugh or cavil 
at the symbol? You do not laugh at the idea of con- 
secration to the highest right you know? No, your 
heart leaps and aches at the thought, your cheeks 
flush with the yearning to do that heroism, your 
tongue has no ha! ha! for that; but that is what 
your Evangelical neighbor called 'Coming to Jesus. ' 
Are you going to call it cant? His symbol serves 
him as yours serves you. Honor your own in hon- 
oring his. Do I idealize Mr. Moody and his con- 
verts by these words? They do not consciously 
mean anything so intensely moral as this — I hear 
some one protest. The consecration that you make 
centrally in the 'Come to Jesus' may be these, in- 
deed, but it is the incentive rather than the central 
thing. The central thing with them is not charac- 
ter, but salvation, that imputed righteousness that 
buys off their punishment for sin, that indulgence 



110 CHARACTER INDICATORS. 

element of which the Roman Catholic indulgence is 
only a lower form. I doubt not that it is so with 
some, and that with still more — with very many, 
although they fully mean a find of consecration, 
and only sing — 

'Till to Jesus' work you cling, 

Doing is a deadly thing. ' 

That streets tend to make them feel that doing is a 
comparatively indifferent thing, after they cling to 
Him; in short, that the 's5^mbor like idols every- 
where, often gets the worship away from the inner 
moral meaning. Without abatement of this kind, 
I frankly own is exaggeration in the way I have put 
the matter. But I believe that truer estimate of a 
movement like the revival is gotten by making an 
abatement from this way and looking at it, rather 
than by approaching it in the opposite spirit and 
with a little pity to abate our scorn. It is very easy 
to pick out many a bit from Mr. Moody's talk that 
seems to contradict all this. 'The Greatest Sin of 
the world is unbelief. ' 'If I read my Bible right there 
is no hope out of Christ,' and so on. But these are 
to be interpreted by his prevailing method, not that 
by these. 

"That he confounds his symbol with his substance 
utterly, that the two are one to him — is that any 
reason why we should make the same mistake? 
And he would laugh about all this talk about sym- 
bols, nor understand a word of it. But get him to 
tell you what he means by 'belief and 'out of 
Christ, ' and in two minutes you will probably find 
him deep in the morality, spite of himself, or rather, 
because of himself, for that is what his Christology 
is in his heart of hearts. 



CHARACTER INDICATORS. Ill 

"Can I not be large-natured enough and trust my 
nature enough to entertain them all in my own soul, 
and say to each with infinite sincerity, Brother? The 
man or the party who does this most heartily and 
fully is thereby fitted best to make his own light 
shine. The only excuse for warning another man 
to give up his thoughts and take on ours is our belief 
that ours will bless him more — excuse, indeed, to 
furnish missions and enthusiasm. The most of us 
are so eagerly unselfish in our proselyting that we 
call hard names and feel bitter against him if he 
does not accept our friendly offer. Let us rather fall 
back on our unity with him, make our own light 
shine the better and wait. 

"Best of all methods to recommend an unpopular 
faith to acceptance is being brave in thought, yet 
broad in sympathies. Not visibly brave and invis- 
ibly broad, as some are apt to be. Not visibly broad 
and invisibly brave, like certain other friends, but 
brave, so that men will say 'He is a radical' ; broad, 
so that men shall add: 'He is reverent,' and by 
being so religious in actual life that, as far as one is 
known, men and women shall be confronted by a 
living proof that what they may call 'infidelity' is at 
least fidelity to high morality and widely active 
unselfishness. Live up to the motto, 'Freedom with 
Fellowship in Religion, ' and then within some hum- 
ble sphere, we cannot help being its missionary, for 
as we go our whole bearing will preach it — it, the 
Freedom with the Fellowship." 



CHAPTER X. 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

After the Chicago fire, Mr. Moody received what 
he termed a "call from on High" to visit England. 
So, in 1873, accompanied by Mr. Sankey and their 
respective families, they arrived in Liverpool. Mr. 
Moody had previously received two invitations from 
London clergymen to come and hold meetings 
in that city, and it was with this in view that he 
made the trip. On his arrival in England, what 
was his surprise to learn that both ministers were 
dead. The evangelists had taken but a small 
amount of money with them, and they were conse- 
quently about stranded. Mr. Moody's financial 
genii, however, came to his aid, and he at once issued 
an edition of song books, which brought them in 
sufficient money to pay their expenses, and became a 
wonderful success from the start, many thousands 
of copies being sold and much revenue being 
derived therefrom. Mr. Moody remembered that 
he had had some correspondence with a minister at 
York. He wrote to that gentleman of his arrival 
in London, and of his disappointment in not finding 
the two friends he had come to see, and suggested 
that it might be well to start the meetings at York. 
The York minister replied that he did not think the 
time propitious for a revival, but this did not pre- 
vent Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey from going there. 
112 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 113 

Their reception was not the most cordial. Their 
methods of advertising were so new and different 
from what the conservative English church people 
had been used to, that they were looked upon with 
suspicion. They advertised their meetings in the 
daily press, and placed large posters on the dead 
walls. 

At the first prayer-meeting, held on Sunday morn- 
ing in a small room of the Association building, only 
four persons were present ; and Mr. Moody has char- 
acterized that as the best service he ever attended. 
The clergy looked coldly on the evangelists as 
intruders, and most of the churches were closed to 
them. They labored on bravely against these dis- 
couragements for a month, and were comforted by 
seeing above two hundred converts to Christ. Their 
work at Sunderland began on Sunday, July 27th, at 
the invitation of a Baptist pastor. The ministers 
still held aloof, and even the Young Men's Christian 
Association eyed them suspiciously for a week before 
offering the hand of fellowship. But the meetings 
steadily waxed larger. 

The evangelists were invited to Newcastle-on-the- 
Tyne by the chief ministers of that town, and were 
heartily sustained by the leaders of the congrega- 
tions. And now Mr. Moody confessed his hope. 
"We are on the eve of a great revival which may 
cover Great Britain, and perhaps make itself felt in 
America. And why may not the fire burn as long 
as I live? When this revival spirit dies, may I die 
with it." His prophetic words met an immediate 
fulfillment. All the meetings were thronged with 
attentive listeners, and as many as thirty-four ser- 
vices were held in a single week. A noonday prayer 



114 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

meeting was organized, while special efforts were 
made to reach the factory hands and business men. 
An all-day meeting was held on September loth, 
wherein seventeen hundred participated. One hour 
was spent in Bible reading, another on the promises, 
and the last in an examination of what the Scriptures 
teach concerning Heaven. The town was wonder- 
fully awakened, and every night sinners were drawn 
to the uplifted Savior. 

Edinburgh was prepared for the manifestation of 
a signal blessing by a series of union prayer-meet- 
ings held in October and November, which softened 
and unified the hearts of Christians of various 
names. Hence it was that the evangelists were wel- 
comed in such a spirit of sympathy that captious 
criticism was unthought of. The ministry of song 
was an unheard-of innovation. Yet the rooted aver- 
sion of the Scottish people to the singing of aught 
but psalms, gave way quickly to the evident testi- 
mony of the Spirit to the spirituality of his messages 
and the tenderness of his voice. On the first day, 
Sunday, November 23d, the Music Hall was thronged 
with two thousand auditors, and many more were 
excluded. Five hundred met at noon on Monday 
for prayer, and that attendance was soon doubled. 
Meetings for inquirers was held after each service. 
Three hundred in the first week confessed their 
sins had been forgiven. Their ages ranged from 
seventy-five to eleven. Students and soldiers, poor 
and rich, the backsliding, intemperate, and skep- 
tical, were all represented. The largest halls were 
found to be too small to accommodate the eager audi- 
ences. A striking case of conversion was that of a 
notorious infidel, the chairman of a club of free- 




Copyright, 1900, by Eobt. O. Law. 

MR. MOODY'S CHARACTERISTIC ATTITUDE. 
This was a favorite gesture of Mr. Moody when making a telling scriptural point. 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 117 

thinkers. He declared his utter disbelief in the 
value of prayer, and defied Mr. Moody to test its 
power on him. The evangelist accepted the chal- 
lenge in faith, and remembered him continually in 
his petitions till he heard of his finding Christ, 
months afterward. An impressive watch-meeting 
was held on the last night of the year 1873, and a 
special blessing was besought for the British people. 
The week of prayer, from the 4th to the nth of 
January, 1874, was observed throughout all Scotland, 
as a season of united prayer for invoking the Lord 
to visit the nation, and the entire world in mercy. 
The most remarkable feature of this revival has 
been described as "the presence and the power of the 
Holy Ghost, the solemn awe, the prayerful, believ- 
ing, expectant spirit, the anxious inquiry of unsaved 
souls, and the longing of believers to grow more like 
Christ — their hungering and thirsting after holi- 
ness. " Similar characteristics have marked the 
advent of these yoke-fellows in every community. 
This mission in Edinburgh, which lasted till the 21st 
of January, 1874, resulted in adding three thousand 
to the city churches. 

At Dundee, meetings were held in the open air, 
at which from ten to sixteen thousand were present. 
Four hundred converts attended the meeting for 
praise and instruction. The city of Glasgow was 
reached on Sunday, February 8th. The first audi- 
ence consisted of three thousand Sunday-school 
teachers; the prayer-meeting opened with half that 
number. The Crystal Palace, which held above five 
thousand, was always crowded, though admission 
could only be had by ticket. To meet the emer- 
gency, special meetings were organized for young 
7 



118 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

men and young women, inquirers, workingmen, 
and the intemperate. Seventeen thousand signa- 
tures to the pledge were secured here. So the 
work of awakening went on for three months, 
steadily increasing in power. On the last Sun- 
day afternoon, a great audience of some twenty 
or thirty thousand gathered in the Palace garden, 
and hung on the words of Mr. Moody, as he 
spoke from the seat of a carriage. More than 
three thousand united to the city congregations, the 
large proportion of whom were under twenty-five. 
Short visits were then made to Paisley, Greenock 
and Gourock. In the summer a tour was taken 
through the Highlands, for the sowing of the seed 
of the Word. Meetings were held in the open air at 
Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, and elsev/here; and 
many souls were won. In Ireland, the common 
people heard the preacher gladly. The good work 
began at Belfast, on Sunday, September 6, 1874. 
To reach as many as possible, separate sessions were 
had for women and for men, for professing Chris- 
tians, for the unconverted, and for inquirers, for 
young men and for boys. Huge gatherings were 
also addressed in the Botanic Gardens, a space of six 
acres being filled with attentive hearers. On Mon- 
day, September 27th, a remarkable meeting of eight 
hours for inquirers was held, wherein above two 
hundred young men came unto Jesus and took His 
yoke upon them. And when the young converts 
were collected into a farewell meeting, tickets for 
2,150 were granted to such applicants. 

Dublin, five-sixths of whose inhabitants were not 
Protestant, awoke into a newness of religious life on 
the advent of the evangelists. From the 25th of 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 119 

October to the 29th of November, the whole city- 
was stirred in a wonderful way. The great Exhi- 
bition Palace contained audiences in the evenings 
and on Sundays of from twelve to fifteen thousand. 
At the prayer-meetings and Bible readings, the 
number often exceeded two thousand. Many 
Roman Catholics were attentive listeners, and 
parish priests as well. The stillness of these vast 
assemblies was very marked. Truly the Lord was 
faithful in answering the prayer Mr. Moody con- 
tinually offered in private: "O God, keep the people 
still, hold the meeting in Thy hand. " These labors 
ended with a three-days' convention, at which eight 
hundred ministers attended, from all parts of Ire- 
land. Above two thousand young converts con- 
fessed their new-born faith. 

Manchester for eight months had besought a bless- 
ing on its people; and these preparatory services 
were closed with a Communion in which two thou- 
sand Christians united. The month of December 
was devoted here to evangelistic work. In spite of 
the wintry weather, the halls were crowded, and 
overflow meetings had to be organized. Here, as 
elsewhere, the large proportion of men in attend- 
ance was noticeable. The city was mapped out into 
districts, and the duty of distributing cards at every 
dw^elling was assigned to a large corps of volunteers. 
On one side of these was printed the hymn "Jesus 
of Nazareth Passeth By;" and on the other, a 
short address by Mr. Moody, his text being Rev- 
elations iii., :2o. The efforts of the Young Men's 
Christian Association to purchase a suitable build- 
ing met with a cordial indorsement, and a fourth of 



120 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

the entire amount needed was obtained at the first 
public meeting. 

In Sheffield, the scheme of house-to-house visita- 
tion had to be abandoned in order to secure the co- 
operation of the clergy of the Church of England. 
The opening meeting was held on New Year's eve, 
and the address in that watch-night service was 
upon Work. The great congregation, in response 
to Mr. Moody's request, finished the old year and 
began the new on their knees. For a fortnight the 
dwellers in this industrial town collected in such 
numbers as to pack the halls and the sidewalks 
about them, so that the evangelist had frequently 
to speak in the open air. The work at Birming- 
ham, "the toy-shop of the world, " was also limited 
for lack of time. The spacious Town Hall was 
crowded on January 17, 1875; ^.nd for the other 
gatherings, even Bingley Hall, which held twelve 
thousand, proved too small. Another Christian 
convention was held, at which above a thousand 
ministers attended. Sixteen hundred converts re- 
ceived tickets to the special meeting for counsel. 
After pausing a week for a vacation, these lay apos- 
tles began their ministry of a month at Liverpool on 
February 7th. Victoria Hall, a wooden structure, 
able to shelter eleven thousand, was expressl}^ 
erected for their reception. It was crowded at all 
the night services, while an average of six thousand 
attended the Bible lectures and noon meetings for 
prayer. These three services were held every day 
except Saturday, when these devoted laborers took 
the rest which their overtaxed energies so impera- 
tively demanded. The house-to-house visitation 
was resumed here, and efforts were made to have a 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 121 

personal talk with the non-churchgoers. The cor- 
ner-stone for the new hall of the Y. M. C. A. was 
laid, and a convention held for two days, which was 
largely attended by ministers and laymen. 

Four months were devoted to evangelizing the 
gigantic metropolis of London. Four centers were 
selected for preaching. Agricultural Hall, at Isling- 
ton, North London, could seat 14,000 and give 
standing room for 6,000 more ; Bow Road Hall, in the 
extreme east had 10,000 sittings; the Royal Opera 
House in the west end was in the aristocratic quarter 
of Westminster; and Victoria Theater, in the south, 
was used until Camberwell Hall was completed in 
June. This gospel campaign — the mightiest ever 
undertaken by any evangelist — was preceded by a 
course of union prayer-meetings for five months, that 
the Lord might prepare the way for a glorious man- 
ifestation of His power by purging the hearts of 
His own followers. A private conference was also 
held in advance with fifteen hundred of the city 
clergy, in order to explain the usual plan of proced- 
ure, and remove any misapprehensions that might 
exist. The whole city was parceled out for canvass- 
ing, and countless bands of yoke-fellows were sent 
out to leave at every dwelling the tract drawn up 
by Mr. Moody, and to tender an invitation to the 
services. Among these laborers was an old woman 
aged eighty-five years, who fulfilled her duties faith- 
fully, and met everywhere words of kindness. This 
wonderful mission was opened on Tuesday evening, 
the 9th of March, at Islington. For a time the ser- 
vices were met with mockery and ribald speeches 
without, by disorderly men and women. But these 
demonstrations soon subsided, as the real piety of 



122 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

the speakers became evident. Fully 80,000 attended 
the services of the first three days, and 45,000 heard 
the three addresses on the Sunday following. At 
the Royal Opera House, the nobility and gentry of 
England were directly reached by Bible readings, 
and members of the royal family were frequently 
present. The last gospel meeting was greater than 
any preceding, and a great number arose to receive 
the Lord Jesus Christ. The final meeting of thanks- 
giving was held at Mildmay Park Conference Hall, 
on July 12th. Seven hundred ministers were pres- 
ent to say farewell to the evangelist, whom they 
were so loth to see depart. Dr. A. Bonar testified 
that the work of increase was still going on in Glas- 
gow, with at least 7,000 members already added to 
its churches. Other ministers bore witness to the 
abundant fruit of the revival. Then, after silent 
prayer, the two evangelists hastily withdrew, not 
daring to expose themselves to the ordeal of part- 
ing with so many dear associates. They had held 
285 meetings in London; these were attended by 
fully 2,500,000 people; the expenses were $140,000. 
These companions came together at the final meet- 
ings in Liverpool. They sailed homeward on the 
6th of August, attended by many loving prayers, 
and arrived in New York on the 14th. 

It was during their first meetings in England, 
that a rumor was circulated throughout the British 
Isles, that Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey were frauds 
of the rankest order, and that they had no standing 
whatever in America, and particularly in Chicago, 
from whence they hailed. Mr. Moody did not pay 
much attention to this at first, but it began to be so 
widely circulated that it appeared as if the conse- 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 123 

quences might be serious. So he cabled to his 
friends in America, and the ministers of Chicago 
endorsed him in the following resolutions: 

*'We, the undersigned pastors of the city of Chi- 
cago, learning that the Christian character of D. L. 
Moody has been attacked, for the purpose of de- 
stroying his influence as an evangelist in Scotland, 
hereby certify that his labors in the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and as an evangelist in this 
city and elsewhere, according to the best informa- 
tion we can get, have been evangelical and Christian 
in the highest sense of those terms; and we do not 
hesitate to commend him as an earnest Christian 
worker, worthy of the confidence of our Scotch and 
English brethren, with whom he is now laboring; 
believing that the Master will be honored by them 
in so receiving him among them as a co-laborer in 
the vineyard of the Lord." 

While holding meetings in Liverpool, an immense 
audience was assembled one evening, which was 
being addressed by the Rev. Chas. Garrett, a Meth- 
odist minister of that city. Mr. Garrett, in his re- 
marks, deplored the fact that there was no place in 
Liverpool or any of the large English cities, where 
workmen could find recreation without spending 
their time in the saloons and drinking places. He 
thought that it would be a splendid scheme if some 
plan could be devised whereby the workmen could 
be looked after. This gave Mr. Moody an idea, and 
he was seen in a hurried whispered consultation 
with a number of the gentlemen who occupied the 
stage. Mr. Garrett finished his remarks while Mr. 
Moody was still whispering. Mr. Moody requested 
him to continue for ten minutes. Mr. Garrett con- 



124 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 

tinued, and at the close of his remarks, Mr. Moody 
announced that he had just formed the British 
Workmen Company — limited — with a capital of 
$50,000. That Lord So-and-So — indicating one of 
the gentlemen on the stage — had subscribed a thou- 
sand pounds; Lord So-and-So, another stage occu- 
pant, another thousand pounds, and so on, until 
forty thousand pounds had been subscribed inside 
of ten minutes. Mr. Moody then announced that 
Mr. Garrett would take charge of the fund and pro- 
ceed to the erection of coffee houses, as outlined in 
his address, and also suggested that Mr. Garrett 
raise the balance necessary to make up the total 
capital. Mr, Garrett protested that the rules of his 
church would not permit him to remain longer in 
Liverpool, he having finished the three years' term 
of his pastorate. Mr. Moody told him, he would 
fix that, and he did. The coffee houses were estab- 
lished in Liverpool and spread to all of the large 
cities of England. They paid, in dividends, to the 
stockholders, 25 per cent for many years, and never 
less than 10 per cent. In this connection it may be 
well to state that Mr. Garrett, who remained at the 
head of the institution for many years, was the first 
minister of the Methodist Church in England who 
was ever allowed to remain in one place longer 
than the stipulated three years. 

In speaking once of the incidents of his European 
visit, Mr. Moody told the following story : 

"I went to London in 1872 just to spend three or 
four months, and one night I spoke in a prayer- 
meeting. I went into a Congregational church, and 
I preached with an unusual power. There didn't 
seem to be anything out of the regular line in the 




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O 73 

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05 A 



THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 127 

service. In fact, I was a little disappointed. I 
didn't seem to have much liberty there. That even- 
ing, at 6.30, I preached to men. There seemed to 
be a great power. It seemed as if the building was 
filled with the glory of God, and I asked for an ex- 
pression when I got through. They rose by the 
hundreds. I said, 'They don't know what this 
means;' so I thought I would put another test. I 
just asked them to step back into the chapel — all 
those that wanted to become Christians, but no one 
else. They flocked into the chapel by the hundreds. 
I was in great perplexity. I couldn't understand 
what it meant. I went down to Dublin the next 
day, and on Tuesday morning I got a dispatch 
saying, 'Come t^ London at once and help us. * I 
didn't know what to make of it, but I hastened back 
to London and labored there ten days, and there 
were four hundred names recorded at that time. 
For months I could not understand what it meant, 
but by-and-by I found out. ' ' 



CHAPTER XL 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 

Moody and Sankey were at Birmingham in the 
early part of January in 1874. Their first meeting 
was held on Sunday morning, the 17th, at 8 o'clock, 
in the town hall. The meeting was for *' Christian 
workers," and the admission was by ticket. The 
morning was cheerless, damp and raw, but the 
people were crowded in every part. In the after- 
noon they held an open service in the hall, and 
thousands went away unable to get in. The great 
test, however, which they had excited came in the 
evening. In October, 1873, when Mr. Bright 
addressed his constituents after his return to the 
cabinet, he spoke in Bingley Hall, a building used 
for the annual cattle show, and as a drill hall for 
the volunteers. Various estimates were made as to 
the number of people who listened on that occasion. 
It seems probable that most of them fell far short of 
the truth. There were no seats on the floor of the 
hall, and without seats there is now reason to believe 
that the hall will hold between 20,000 and 25,000 
people. It was crowded in every part. 

For the meetings, the *' Moody and Sankey Com- 
mittee" hired upwards of 9,000 chairs. On their 
first Sunday evening, long before 8 o'clock, when 
the services commenced, not only were all the 
128 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 129 

chairs occupied, but several thousands of people were 
standing-, and thousands could not gain admission. 
It is believed by those who are in a position to 
judge, that there were fully 13,000 people present 
every night. Through the first week the hall was 
thronged in the same way, and there were vast 
crowds outside. 

On Sunday morning, January 24th, it was filled 
with people who obtained admission by tickets, and 
who, before they received their tickets declared that 
they were not in the habit of attending any place of 
worship. In the afternoon of the same day, it was 
filled with women, and a second service was held in 
the town hall for the overflow, and in the evening 
it was filled with men. There was a break on the 
Monday afternoon of the second week, when Mr. 
Moody had an engagement at Manchester. He pro- 
fessed to have met Christ on his visit to that city. 
Mr. Bright spoke in the hall that night, and it was 
most inconveniently crowded, but some people were 
of the opinion that on several of the following eve- 
nirrgs the crowd that filled the hall for religious ser- 
vice was denser than that which filled it for the 
political demonstration. 

Night after night, long before the hour of service, 
long rows of carriages stood in the street filled with 
persons who hoped that when the crowd about the 
doors had thinned, they might be able to find stand- 
ing room just inside, and thousands streamed away 
because they found they had come too late to have 
a chance of pressing in. 

In addition to the evening service, there was a 
prayer meeting every noon, at which Mr. Moody 
gave an address of twenty or twenty-five minutes, 



130 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 

and Mr. Sankey sang. The meeting was held at 
first in the Town Hall, which was generally quite 
full. On the last four days it was held in Bingley 
Hall, and the attendance varied from four to six 
thousand. At three o'clock, after the first day or 
two, Mr. Moody gave a Bible lecture. He began 
in Carr's Lane Chapel, which was soon found to be 
too small. It was then transferred to Bingley Hall, 
and the attendance varied from five to ten thousand. 

The meetings had been well advertised. The 
local newspapers published a series of articles on 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey before they came, 
describing the impression they had produced in 
Scotland and Ifeland. The Morning News gener- 
ally gave several columns each day to the reports of 
the service. The Daily Post gave great prominence 
to this news feature, and even the local Conservative 
organ, the Daily Gazette, always had enough about 
the evangelist to attract attention. The local com- 
mittee, in addition to the newspaper notoriety, cov- 
ered the walls of the town with placards, announc- 
ing the services and these were constantly being 
renewed. When the fact became known that Bing- 
ley Hall, the largest in the city, had been filled to 
hear the strangers, it created a certain measure of 
popular excitement and curiosity, which made it 
almost certain that the hall would be filled again. 

These services were not deemed "hysterical." 
The first sign of hysterical excitement was instantly 
repressed by Mr. Moody, and it is a curious fact 
that although the crowds were enormous, very few 
women fainted. It is said there were only three or 
four cases during the meeting. 

Mr. Sankey had a great share in keeping up the 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 131 

interest in the meetings, and it is interesting at this 
time to note that the songs which to-day have lived 
and are popular in the church and evangelistic work 
were the ones used by the great singer in his Euro- 
pean meetings. The people were much in love with 
such songs as "Hold the Fort for I am Coming," 
"Safe in the Arms of Jesus," and " I am So Glad 
that Jesus Loves Me," but it was not the singing 
only that made the services interesting. There 
was great animation and variety in them. In the 
evening they began with a hymn, which the people 
sang together, but what would be the order of the 
service no one knew before hand, and it has been 
frequently said that Mr. Moody did not even know. 
He had the instinctive perception to a remarkable 
degree whereby he could easily tell if the people 
were interested. After the first hymn somebody 
generally offered a short prayer. If it was clear 
that the heart of the attendance went with the 
prayer, he would then read a chapter and make a 
few remarks on it as he read. If not, he would ask 
Mr, Sankey to sing a solo, or a solo with a chorus, 
in which the people joined, or else one of the most 
popular hymns ; then he would read a chapter and 
perhaps have another hymn or offer a short prayer 
himself. Then would come another hymn, and 
then the sermon. Sometimes the sermon would be 
followed by a solo from Mr. Sankey. Sometimes by 
a hymn, in which all united. Sometimes by a prayer. 
Everything was determined by what was felt to be 
the actual mood of the moment. Generally the 
whole service was over in a little more than an hour 
and a quarter. 

"One of the elements of Mr. Moody's power," 



132 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 

said a critic of the period, "consisted in his perfect 
naturalism. He had something to say and he said 
it, and said it as simply and directly to 13,000 people 
as to thirteen. He had nothing of the impudence 
into which some speakers are betrayed when they 
try to be easy and unconventional, but he talked in 
a perfectly unconstrained and straightforward way, 
just as he would talk to half a dozen old friends at 
his own fireside. The effect of this was very intel- 
ligible. One would no more think of criticising him 
than to think of criticising a man one meets in the 
street who directs you to the shortest route to the 
depot. There are some men who force one to be 
critical. There is a tendency to test every sentence 
they utter. Their words are received with a kind 
of suspicion, yet this never occurred to the people 
when they listened to Mr. Moody. Now and then 
Mr. Moody quoted a text in a very illegitimate sense. 
Now and then he advanced an argument which 
would not hold water. Now and then he laid down 
principles which seemed untenable, and there may 
have been a protest, but if so, it was only moment- 
arily. ' ' 

Mr. J. R. Creed, in an article published in Pear- 
son's Magazine, in 1898, about Moody and Sankey, 
now says. Though it is more than twenty years 
since the Americans, Moody and Sankey, left this 
country after their remarkable diatribe on British 
morals ; these names are not forgotten. 

During their famous evangelistic tour over 2,500,- 
000 people attended their meetings in London alone, 
and when we consider the thousands that thronged 
nightly to hear them in the Provinces and in Ireland 
and Scotland, it is probable, that taking all in all, 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 133 

they addressed the greatest number of different 
people that any other preachers have succeeded in 
reaching. 

Their names, therefore, have passed into a phrase, 
and the memory has been kept green by the sale of 
their hymn books, which have attained a circulation 
of several millions, a secret the publishers will not 
divulge. 

And what wonderful men these two — orators and 
solicitors — were, whatever may be our opinion of 
their methods. 

The friends who had invited them to this country, 
and guaranteed to pay their expenses, were no 
longer alive when they at last reached Liverpool. 
To meet these predicaments, which left them com- 
pletely stranded, an edition of their hymn book was 
at once issued, part of the proceeds from the royalty 
being sufficient to cover their personal expenses 
from the first. Indeed, so ready was the sale that 
on his return from Ireland, in 1875, Mr. Moody 
announced in public his intention of ceasing to make 
private use of the income so derived, and the bal- 
ance, which, at the close of the London mission, 
had amounted to nearly ^6,000, was devoted to the 
liquidation of the debt incurred by the members of 
the Chicago church, in which Moody was interested. 

There were people who declared that Moody and 
Sankey were over here "to make as much money 
as they could out of the Lord, ' ' But though fab- 
ulous sums were collected on their behalf, fabulous 
sums were also spent. In March, 1875, Moody 
received an invitation to visit London. " If I come, ' ' 
was the preacher's response, "you will have to 
raise ;^5,ooo for expenses." 



134 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 

The answer came at once — 

"We have ;^io,ooo ready!" 

As a matter of fact ^28,238 9s. 6d. was altogether 
received, while the expenses amounted tO;^28, 296 
9s. 6d., thus showing the deficit of ;^58. 

Moody and Sankey's reputation had preceded 
them, and London awaited their arrival with no 
little curiosity. Who were these great men who 
placarded each town they intended to visit with 
vast posters announcing their arrival? "Moody and 
Sankey are coming ! ' ' Was it a traveling show or a 
circus, or some popular entertainers? 

Wherever they went they engaged the largest 
buildings, and, provincial theaters and public halls 
were crammed each night from floor to skylight, 
thousands who had waited for hours struggled vainly 
for admission. 

"To hear Moody and Sankey," says a writer of 
the day, in a London paper, "the theaters are 
deserted, the gin shops emptied, the streets appear 
depopulated, and the very nature and habits of a 
work-a-day's world were seized and transformed by 
them into something new. They came in scorn, 
and left behind respect, surprise, new thoughts, and 
whole communities stirred to the quick." 

On March 16, 1875, over twenty-two thousand 
people thronged the Agricultural Hall to hear 
them, and more than ten thousand people were 
turned away unable to obtain even standing room. 
Such various characters of all ranks and all conditions 
of men and women and children as could gather in 
the largest buildings, London had never before seen 
or known in the metropolis. During the addresses 
the audience arose literally in hundreds and 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 137 

expressed their desire to be saved! "The cream of 
the hour," Mr. Moody asserted, "was in the inquiry 
room." 

The Prince of Wales, Dean Stanley, and Lord 
Cairnes honored the revivalists by going to hear 
them. Already they had become popular heroes. 
One thousand pounds was offered to Mr. Moody if 
he would sit for a photograph, an offer which he, 
however, unhesitatingly declined, declaring that he 
would pay five hundred pounds to be able to prevent 
portraits of himself to be sold. Thousands of men 
and women, people of high life, who drove up in 
their carriages, poor creatures who dragged them- 
selves to the meetings on weary feet, professed to 
"find Christ." The converted were divided into 
classes and placed under the pastors to whose con- 
gregation they belonged. 

In speaking of Moody and Sankey, the preacher 
was always mentioned first. But to imply from this 
that the singer played an inferior part in the work 
would be both an unfair and a mistaken view. 
Sankey had one of the finest tenor voices that had 
ever been heard. When he sang he held the people 
enraptured. Moody's eloquence it is difficult to 
criticise. To address and entertain 20,000 people 
night after night, month after month, was a per- 
formance that only a great preacher could accom- 
plish. Yet he made no attempt at rhetoric. Illus- 
tration was employed to occupy the place of argu- 
ment. Eloquence receded before a store of simple 
anecdote. 

It was Moody who knitted the attention of the vast 
audiences, who held them spellbound, and Sankey's 
wonderful voice which carried them away in a burst 



138 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 

of Spiritual enthusiasm, ceasing to leave them once 
more, in the great hush that follows, in the convinc- 
ing arguments of the preacher. 

The most extraordinary event in connection with 
Moody and Sankey's visit to this country was in con- 
nection with their proposed visit to Eaton College. 
From some of the boys, or some of the boys' parents, 
they received a pressing invitation to visit the school. 
The moment this became known there arose such a 
storm in London as no similar event has ever called 
forth. 

The question came up before the House of Com- 
mons. Thirty-four members arose to their feet. A 
serious and animated discussion occurred in the 
House of Lords; a remonstrance, newly signed, was 
sent to the head master. 

In spite of this a large tent, capable of holding a 
thousand persons^ was erected in the south meadow of 
the College play field, and a public notice was given 
of a service, especially addressed to the students. 
At the last moment, however, an edict was issued 
which emphatically prohibited this. Mr. Moody at 
once appealed to the Mayor for the use of Round 
Hall, a request that was at first acceded to. Shortly 
before three, however, the hour at which the serv- 
ice was to commence, a notice was posted on the 
door declaring that no meeting would be held. 

Nothing daunted, Moody obtained permission to 
deliver his address in the garden of one of the houses 
in High street. At least seventy or eighty Eaton 
boys were present. The meeting was very quiet 
and orderly. It may be that a lasting impression 
was made on these youthful attendants ; at all events, 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 139 

Mr. Moody's address and Sankey's melodies could 
not have done them the slightest harm. 

When the two finally quitted the country vast 
crowds congregated at Liverpool to see them off. 
At their farewell services both Moody's stand and 
Sankey's organ was decorated with flowers and 
costly bouquets; their appearance was greeted with 
tremendous applause ; nor is it surprising that orator 
and melodist should both be broken down on that 
occasion. 



CHAPTER XII. 



AMERICAN MEETINGS. 

Mr. Moody, at the close of one of his great meet- 
ings in Boston, gave a talk on finance and asked the 
people there to give him $30,000. He said that 
$20,000 of it would be used to defray the expenses 
of the meetings that had been held there, and $10,- 
000 was to secure the use of the tabernacle for one 
year for gospel purposes. He stated that in the 
meeting he recently held in Chicago not only had 
they raised enough money to pay the expense of 
that meeting, but had raised $80,000 additional to 
pay the debt of the Y. M. C. A. He said that when 
this big sum had been raised, people not in sympathy 
with him or his work, stated that Moody and San- 
key had carried off a large portion of it. He said 
that if this had been true it would have been very 
good pay for three months' work. He said if he 
had taken the money the public would have a right 
to know how they spent it. But as they were not 
employed by the public, he did not see any reason 
why he should give any statement, as there had 
never been any collection for them. He said that 
when he gave up his business in Chicago, after three 
months of the severest struggle of his life, as to 
whether he should go for dollars and cents, or for 
souls, that from that day he had no more lived for 
140 



AMERICAN MEETINGS. 141 

money than he had for water. He said he had been 
offered $500 a night to lecture, and that when the 
lecture was over he could go to his hotel and get a 
comfortable night's sleep. But during his evangel- 
ism he had worked all day and talked all night with 
inquirers, and that when he was done he was so tired 
and weak that he could hardly get to his room. 

While holding meetings at Burlington, la., a num- 
ber of years ago the hall was crowded so densely 
that women began to faint ; one woman in particular 
fell down in a crowd in the aisle and it was with 
difficulty that she could be removed. The weather 
was bitter cold and the air inside the building was 
very bad. Mr. Moody changed his plan of con- 
ducting the meeting and would order hymns every 
five or ten minutes, at which time the windows or 
doors would be thrown wide open, allowing the air 
of the place to become clear. This was quite a re- 
lief and no bad effects were noticeable. 

At the Christian convention held in Boston, in 
1877, Mr. Moody was present and told of his own ex- 
perience in his Christian work in Chicago, and when 
his congregation was discouragingly small, he said 
he found a way to success by putting the converts 
to work trying to bring others into the fold. He 
said that one man who was converted was unable to 
speak English, and that when conversation took 
place it was done through an interpreter. This 
man wanted to do something for the cause and he 
was put to work distributing religious bills. Mr. 
Moody said that some people blessed him and some 
cursed him, but it made no difference to the man, 
for he could not understand English. But this man 
was the means of converting a great many people. 



142 AMERICAN MEETINGS. 

Mr. Moody also advocated congregational singing, 
as he believed this had done much good work. He 
said that he had been able to reach many young 
men by going to billiard halls and singing some 
patriotic song followed by a religious hymn. He 
said that the first signs of the breaking of the ice was 
noticed in the men removing their hats and they 
soon did not object to hearing the Scriptures read 
or a prayer offered. He said that one time he took 
sixteen men out of one saloon and nine of them 
went to the inquiry room. 

In this same Boston meeting Mr. Moody was 
asked a number of questions, and among them was, 
*'Why don't you teach baptism?" He said in reply, 
"If I should teach baptism by sprinkling, I would 
lose the influence of one good sort of Christians. 
Evangelists are just to proclaim the gospel, and 
they should keep out of that controverted ques- 
tion. " He said the work of the evangelist was 
always in proportion to the number of churches 
interested in the movement. He said it was never 
any good arguing with an infidel, the thing was 
to pray with him. He was not a great believer in 
books or tracts, but believed in the Scripture. 

Somebody asked him how gambling in churches 
could be cured. He said, have no festivals, there is 
no gambling in prayer meetings. He said the first 
thing was to get life in yourself. In the camp Sion 
convention, held at the Hippodrome in New York 
in March, 1876, Mr. Moody said in the course of 
one of his talks on Evangelism that he believed the 
secret of John Wesley's success was that he set 
every man to work as soon as they were converted. 



AMERICAN MEETINGS. 143 

He thought the plan a good one, as idleness was 
conducive to spiritual laziness. 

He said that sometimes a convert would wake up 
a whole community and that it was very natural 
that the first thing a man was to do after he was 
converted was to go out and tell somebody about it. 

He was not a believer in the plan of changing 
speakers each night, he said he had known of sev- 
eral times when that had been tried and that there 
had been no good results. He thought that the 
proper way to hold a religious revival was to have 
one or two men to preach continuously for two or 
three weeks. He said that a great many meetings 
were killed because they were so long. He said 
that one of the troubles was that you preach the 
people into the spirit and out again before the meet- 
ing was over. He said that the proper thing was 
to send the people home hungry and then they 
would come again. 

The gospel campaign in the Union began at 
Brooklyn on Sunday, October 24, 1875, ^^^ contin- 
ued there until November 19th. The Rink, on 
Clermont Avenue, which had sittings for five thou- 
sand, was selected for the preaching services, while 
Mr. Talmage's tabernacle was devoted to prayer- 
meetings. A choir of 250 Christian singers was led 
by Mr. Sankey. 

In Philadelphia a spacious freight depot, at Thir- 
teenth and Market streets, was improvised to serve 
as a hall. Chairs were provided for about 10,000 
listeners, besides a chorus of six hundred singers 
seated on the platform. The expenses were met by 
voluntary contributions outside, which amounted to 
$30,000. A corps of three hundred Christians acted 



144 AMERICAN MEETINGS. 

as ushers, and a like number of selected workers 
served in the three inquiry rooms. At the opening 
service, early on Sunday morning, November 21st, 
nine thousand were present, in spite of a drenching 
storm. In the afternoon, almost twice as many 
were turned away as found entrance. Henceforth, 
until the close on January i6th, the attendance and 
popular interest never slackened. A special service 
was held on Thanksgiving Day, and a watch-meet- 
ing on New Year's eve, from 9 to 12. Efforts were 
made to reach all classes of the community, and the 
meetings for young men were specially blessed. A 
careful computation puts the total attendance at 
900,000, and the converts at 4,000. Before leaving 
the city, a collection was made on behalf of the new 
hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, and 
about $100,000 were obtained. A Christian conven- 
tion was held on the 19th and 20th of January, and 
pertinent suggestions about the methods of evangel- 
istic work were given for the benefit of the two 
thousand ministers and laymen in attendance from 
outlying towns. 

For the mission in New York City, the Hippo- 
drome at Madison and Fourth Avenues was leased, 
at a rental of $1,500 weekly, and $10,000 were ex- 
pended in its preparation. It was partitioned into 
two halls, one seating 6,500, the other 4,000, the 
intent being to use the second for overflow meet- 
ings, and so bring such large congregations more 
completely under the speaker's control. A choir of 
800 singers and a corps of lay workers were organ- 
ized. The deep concern of the people to hear the plain 
gospel preached and sung was as deep here among 
all classes as elsewhere, and the attendance was tin- 



AMERICAN MEETINGS. 145 

flagging from February yth to April 19th. Again, 
a Christian conference was convened for two days, 
at which Christian workers from the North and East 
took counsel together. At the final meeting for 
young converts 3,500 were present by ticket. 

Mr. Moody spent two weeks in May with his 
friend, Major Whittle, at Augusta, Georgia, while 
Mr. Sankey took a rest at Newcastle. He preached 
with his usual fervor to large congregations. He 
traveled northward to Chicago by way of Nashville, 
Louisville, St. Louis and Kansas City, holding 
meetings on the way. His new church edifice on 
Chicago Avenue, was opened on his arrival. It 
was a large brick building w4th stone facings, meas- 
uring 120 by 100 feet, and having a bell-tower 120 
feet high. Its entire cost was $100,000, all of which 
was paid before its dedication. August and Septem- 
ber were spent in a visit to the old Northfield home- 
stead, and in little tours to Greenfield, Springfield 
and Brattleboro. 

Chicago gave the heartiest welcome to its own 
Moody and Sankey in October, where they resumed 
the mission work suspended by them three years 
before. A tabernacle was erected which could 
shelter 10,000, and a choir of 300 singers was organ- 
ized. The city pastors gave a most cordial support, 
and its populace, many of whom had seen their 
homes twice burnt to the ground, were eager to lis- 
ten to the earnest messages of free salvation. The 
great Northwest was now moved, as never before, 
especially when tidings came of the sudden death of 
Phillip P. Bliss and his wife at Ashtabula on De- 
cember 29th. Within three months 4,800 converts 
were recorded in Chicacjo. 



146 AMERICAN MEETINGS. 

The evangelical Christians of Boston had long 
been waiting on the Lord for a special blessing on 
their city. A permanent brick edifice was built on 
Tremont Street, able to seat a congregation of six 
thousand. Dr. Tourjee gathered a body of two 
thousand Christian singers, and organized it into 
five distinct choirs. The thoughtful addresses of 
Rev. Joseph Cook were of use in preparing that cuU 
tured and critical city for the advent of the eavangel- 
ists. And the result of the religious services was 
almost be5^ond expectation. Instead of a single 
noon meeting for prayer, seven or eight sprang up 
throughout the city, with numbers varying from 200 
to 1,500. Ninety churches co-operated in a house- 
to-house visitation, and 2,000 visitors were enrolled 
into these bands of yoke-fellows. Throughout all 
New England the quickened activities of the 
churches were unmistakable, and the evangelical 
faith met a more respectful hearing from its think- 
ing classes than had been witnessed for a hundred 
years. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

Personal dealing is of the utmost importance. 
No one can tell how many souls have been lost 
through not following up the preaching of the 
Gospel by personal work. 

People are not usually converted under the preach- 
ing of the minister. It is in the inquiry-meeting 
that they are most likely to be brought to Christ. 

A doctor doesn't prescribe cod-liver oil for all 
complaints. 

What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, 
and to read human nature, too. 

There are a great many church-members who are 
hobbling about on crutches. 

One backslider can do more harm in the world 
than twenty Christian men can do good. 

Every man should make a public confession if 
his sin has been public. 

When you tell an unconverted person who desires 
to become a Christian that he is to live without sin, 
you discourage him. 

You can't offer a man a greater insult than to 
accuse him of telling a wilful lie. 

I challenge any infidel to put his finger on any 
promise that God has not kept. 

For 6,000 years the devil has been trying to find 
out if God has broken His word. 
147 



148 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

What a jubilee there would be in Hell to-day if 
they found God had broken His word ! 

Just preach Christ, and the Spirit of God will bear 
witness. 

We want to get the church up on a higher plain. 
Let there be a teaching out of the Scriptures, and 
the church will grow. 

A great many churches in this country hardly ex- 
pect to gain in numbers. If they hold their own 
they think they are doing pretty well. 

I don't believe a man can preach the simple Gos- 
pel faithfully, anywhere in this country, and not 
have inquirers inside of thirty days, and there will 
be those added to the chtirch daily of such as shall 
be saved. 

If you can get a man to walk across a church be- 
fore all the people, and go into an inquiry-room, it 
means a great deal. 

There is nothing like keeping the people stirred 
up all the time — full of courage — full of hope. 

There is no trouble about getting the people to 
attend the weekly prayer-meeting if it is made 
interesting. 

We don't hear of long prayers in the Bible, ex- 
cept at the dedication of Solomon's Temple, and 
that comes but once in centuries. 

No one likes to hear a long prayer, and when a 
man is making one, very likely the people are pray- 
ing that he will stop. 

Long prayers may have been all right in other 
times, but they are not now. Men think quicker 
than they used to, and act quicker. 

If a man will pray fifteen minutes in a prayer- 
meeting, he will pray all the spirituality out of it. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 149 

Any minister that preaches twice on Sundays, and 
then gives a long lecture in the prayer-meeting, will 
kill any church in this country. 

I believe the time is coming when in many of our 
churches there will be a meeting every night in the 
week. 

Everything shouldn't depend on the minister. 
What you want is to bring out all the talent you 
have got in the church. 

It helps a meeting wonderfully to introduce new 
tunes as fast as the people will learn them. 

There ought to be more effort made for good 
music in all our churches and Sabbath-schools. 

If a woman goes into a house she can sit down 
with the wife and family, and talk and pray, and 
when the man comes home in the evening he won't 
get mad and rage as he might if a man had been 
there. 

I firmly believe that if we had to-day, in these 
great cities, hundreds where we have one lady mis- 
sionary, we would soon break up this Nihilism, and 
Communism, and all such things. 

When a young mother is just beginning to feel 
her responsibility, it isn't very difficult to reach her 
heart. 

When I commenced to give Bible readings, years 
ago, I used to give about forty quotations at one 
time ; but I found the people got tired — the sermon 
was too heavy for them. Then I cut the number 
down to twenty. Now I have cut it to ten. If 
I can bring out the meaning of ten passages, with a 
story here and there to keep up the interest, I 
think I get more truth lodged in their minds 
than if I used a hundred passages. There is a dan- 



150 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

ger of giving too much; the people won't stand it. 
We must give them homoepathic doses. It is better 
to take a dozen passages and throw light on them 
than to run over a hundred and not say a word be- 
tween them. 

I think there is no better place for people to begin 
Christian work than right at their own homes. 

If a man hasn't got a good enough record to have 
any effect at home, he won't be of much account in 
the foreign field. 

If we keep at it three hundred and sixty-five days 
in the year, there will be a good deal of work done 
at the end of the year. 

Money is a very small account in the sight of God. 

The great trouble with many of us is, that we are 
working for God without power. 

There was a time when I thought the raising of 
Lazarus was the greatest work ever done on this 
earth. But I think the conversion of those three 
thousand Jews on the day of Pentecost was more 
wonderful still. 

There are a great many men who had power five 
years ago that haven't got it now. They are like 
Samson robbed of his strength, or like fishermen 
working with old, broken nets. 

It is an awfully sad thing for a man to outlive his 
usefulness, to be laid aside as a vessel no longer 
meet for the Master's use. 

There are a good many Christians God can't use 
as He used them once. 

Of all the skeptics I have seen, I have never seen 
but one who claimed to have read the Bible through, 
and I doubted him, because he could not tell me of 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAVINGS. l^l 

but one verse in the Bible, and that was, "Jesus 
wept. " 

As for the mysteries of the Bible I am glad they 
are there, and that there are heights and depths 
that I have never been able to fathom, and length 
and breadth that no man has ever been able to dis- 
cover. If I could take that book up and understand 
it all it would be pretty good proof that it did not 
come from God. 

It is easy to talk against the Bible, but did you 
ever think how dark this old world would be without 
it? 

Millions of men have gone down to the grave 
because of their loyalty to the Bible. Some people 
have tried to stamp it out, but God has raised up 
witnesses for it. I thank God I live where it is read. 
Anarchy, nihilism, socialism, would sweep this 
whole country, your property and your life would 
not be safe, if it was not for this old book. 

If 3'ou do not like the Bible it is because it con- 
demns your sins. So if you see a man to-morrow 
talking against the good book you may know he 
gets hit. Throw a stone among a group of dogs 
and the dog that gets hit goes off yelping every 
time. 

Take the most faithful follower of Satan in Chi- 
cago for the last five years, and take a most faithful 
follower of Jesus Christ and let the two stand on this 
platform and their very faces would tell the story. 

There is a great joy in the service of Christ that 
the world knows nothing of, and you never will 
know unless you taste it. 

If you find a man howling about hypocrites, you 



152 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

just look out for him, he doesn't live very far from 
one himself. 

Most people have the idea that a man has got to 
join the church to be a hypocrite ; my friends, I will 
find a hundred in the world while you find one in 
the church. 

No man can believe the Bible without purifying 
his soul. 

I don't think the prodigal son did much feeling 
till he got his feet under his father's mahogany 
table. 

Let men act up to their convictions and what a 
meeting we would show you. 

A man who will let a saloon-keeper or a gambler 
or a harlot keep him from what is right, I greatly 
pity. 

Life is very sweet to me, and I can conceive of no 
sweeter work than that I am engaged in. 

If your excuses will not stand the light of eternity 
throw them to the four winds. 

It is the work of the shepherd to seek the lost. 
Who ever heard of a sheep seeking a lost shep- 
herd? 

I want to tell you, if your religion isn't saving you 
and keeping you day by day from sin, it is a shame, 
it is not the religion of Jesus Christ. 

The Catholics have the same Savior as the Protest- 
ants, — one shepherd, one Christ. 

The difficulty with a great many churches is that 
there are too many stumps in the way of the plough. 

Knowledge is certainly better than feelings. 

If you want results, just pray. 

There is only one thing that will thoroughly sat- 
isfy a longing heart, and that is Jesus Christ. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 155 

You never saw a millionaire in your life, who was 
satisfied. 

You know sheep never lie down to rest until they 
get enough to eat and drink. 

I believe that where there is one sermon preached 
to the unconverted, there should be one hundred 
preached to the church members. 

I remember when I was a boy I used to attempt 
ko jump over my shadow, but I never succeeded in 
getting over it. 

There are quite a number of nameless characters 
in the Scriptures that have shone very brightly in 
this world in the Scripture. 

There are a good many who have an idea that 
distilling whiskey is all right if they will only give 
their money to the church. 

A man may erect a synagogue and still be a black- 
hearted villian. 

Treat men as they should be treated, and see if 
you do not win their esteem and respect. 

Don't blow a trumpet and say that you have done 
so much for your servants ; do it kindly and quietly. 

If you find a man that has very high thoughts of 
himself he will have very low thoughts of God. 

I pity those men who hold on with a tight grip to 
everything they have. 

If you want to show kindness to a person, do it 
while you are living. 

Business men can reach the men employed by 
them a good deal better than the minister. 

If we are going to get victory over the world we 

will have to get it through Christ. 

I wouldn't think of talking to unconverted men 
9 



166 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINOS. 

about overcoming the world, for it is utterly impos- 
sible for them to accomplish anything. 

Don't let any man think that he is going to over- 
come his enemies without putting forth his strength 
with God's power. 

If you were to take a mill and put it forty feet 
above any river in this country, there isn't capital 
enough in the world to make that river turn the 
mill ; but get it down about forty feet and then it 
works. 

When Abraham took his eyes off God he was weak 
like other men and denied his wife. 

It is a very singular thing to notice how the men 
in the Bible, if they have fallen, have generally 
fallen on the strongest points of their own charac- 
ters. 

Abraham was celebrated for his faith, and he fell 
there ; but he lost that faith and denied his wife. 

Moses was noted for his meekness and humility, 
he lost his temper and God kept him out of the 
promised land. Elijah was honored for his power 
in prayer and his courage, but he became a coward. 
Queen Jezebel scared the life nearly out of him. 
Peter was noted for his boldness, and a little maid 
frightened him nearly out of his wits. 

The most objectionable characters one meets are 
those who are attempting to walk by sight and not 
by faith. 

I believe that a great many Christians are over- 
come because they don't know what a terrible fright 
they have. 

It is no sign because a man is a Christian that he 
is going to overcome the world. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 157 

The worst enemy one has to overcome, after all, 
is oneself. 

I have had more trouble with D. L. Moody than 
with any other man who has ever crossed my path. 

If one member of the family is constantly snap- 
ping, the whole family will soon be snapping. 

Christianity isn't worth the snap of a finger if it 
doesn't straighten out characters. 

If people ain't sure when you are telling the 
truth, there is something radically wrong, and you 
had better straighten it out at once. 

There are a great many people who only want 
enough Christianity to make them respectable. 

There is only one royal way, and that is by the 
way of Calvary. 

There is more said in the Bible against covetous- 
ness than against intemperance. 

We think when a man gets drunk he is a horrid 
monster, but a covetous man will often be received 
into the church and be put up into office, who is as 
vile and black in the sight of God as any drunkard. 

You needn't be proud of your face, for there is 
not one of you but that after ten days in the grave 
the worms would be eating your body. 

You must put off the mortal to put on immortality. 

Every time we overcome one temptation we get 
strength to overcome another. 

I honestly believe we are down here in school ; in 
training; and if we cannot overcome we are not fit 
for God's service. 

I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ, and you must 
find out how much He is worth in order to estimate 
my wealth. 



158 MR. MOOD\'S ORISP SAYINGS. 

We are not only heirs but joint heirs, and all 
Christ has I have. 

What we want is a Christianity that goes into our 
homes and every-day lives. 

Some men's religion just makes me sick. 

It is wrong for a man or woman to profess what 
they don't possess. 

If you are not overcoming temptations, the world 
is overcoming you. 

Your ministers may preach like Gabriel on Sun- 
day, but that won't do any good if you live like 
Satan during the week in your homes. 

There are a good many people who are delighted 
when you talk about the sins of the patriarchs, and 
other Bible characters, but when you come here and 
touch upon the sins of this city that is another thing. 

Did you ever notice that all but the heart of man 
praises God? If you look right through history, you 
will find that everything but the heart of man obeys 
God. 

Now if you want to get near God, just obey Him. 

Obedience is a matter of the heart. 

He takes those into the nearest communion with 
Himself who just obey Him. 

The man or woman that is nearest to God is the 
man or woman that is just obeying Him. 

My dear friends, as long as we are living a dis- 
obedient life, we cannot do a thing to please God. 

What the Lord wants is not what you have got, 
but yourself, and you cannot do a thing to please 
God until you surrender yourself to Him. 

I believe the wretchedness and misery and woe in 
our American cities to-day comes from disobedience 
to God. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 159 

There is a great reward in keeping God's laws 
and statutes, but a great curse upon them that will 
disobey God. 

People don't like to read legal documents; but if 
you are mentioned in the will it becomes instantly 
very interesting reading. 

If you haven't any faith in a doctor, you don't 
want him in the house, you wouldn't commit the 
life of your child into his hands. 

Faith is the foundation of all social intercourse. 

You might as well ask a man to hear without ears, 
see without eyes, walk without feet, as to ask a man 
to believe without giving him something to believe. 

A creed is the road or street. It is very good as 
far as it goes but if it doesn't take us to Christ it is 
worthless. 

I don't beiieve amy man is so constituted that he 
can not believe God if he wants to. 

Put your il^nger on a promise that God has made 
to man that he hasn't kept, and then we will talk 
about not believing Him. 

When a man says he can not believe himself, but 
can believe in God, then he is on the right road. 

The trouble is, people who don't know what the 
Bible says say they cannot believe it. 

There are a lot of people running around who 
haven't got any roots. 

A good many people live on negations. They are 
always telling what they don't believe. 

The best illustration of faith is a little child. She 
never bothers her head as to where she is going to 
get her breakfast or supper. 

I believe that faith grows like every other thing. 
You only have to water and feed it. 



160 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

There is nothing to hinder you from being saved 
but your own will. 

There are a great many people living on a few 
chapters and verses. They don't take the whole of 
the Bible. 

You cannot touch Jesus Christ anywhere that 
there is not something supernatural about Him. 

I don't like these gilt-edged Bibles that look like 
they had never been used. 

I earnestly believe that this old world has swung 
out in the cold and dark and will never swing back 
until the truth dawns upon it, that "God is love. " 

You take a man or woman and make them believe 
that there is no one in the wide world that loves or 
cares for them, and they would rather die than live. 
That is the class that commits suicide. 

The thing we prize above everything else in this 
world is love, and that is what God prizes above 
everything else. 

There isn't a commandment that hasn't come 
from the loving heart of God, and what He wants is 
to have us give up that which is going to mar our hap- 
piness in this life and the life to come. 

There is no book after all that will draw people 
like the Bible. 

Don't get a Bible so good that you will be afraid 
to carry it for fear you will soil it. 

There are a great many people who know only 
what they hear from other people. 

A good way to study the Bible is to take one book 
at a time. I know some people who never sit down 
to read a book until they have time to read the 
whole of it. 

Justification is what turned Martin Luther inside 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 161 

out. The truth dawned upon him as he went up 
those stairs in Rome. 

I believe a man may come in here a thief and go 
out a saint. I believe a man may come in here as 
vile as Hell itself and go out saved. 

I honestly believe that the greatest mistake we 
are making in this country is that we don't have 
more expository preaching. 

I never saw anyone that kept the Sabbath and 
reverenced God's sanctuary who didn't prosper. I 
have never seen a man desert the house, the law, or 
the statutes of God, but that he grew lean. 

I believe the reason so many people are having 
such hard times now is because they have wandered 
into sin. 

The kiss of Judas wounded the heart of the Son 
of God a good deal more than the Roman spear did. 

The wife that lets down the standard in order to 
reach her husband always loses ground. 

When you see a Christian minister making the 
ungodly people in his congregation his society, look 
out for him. 

When you see a man or woman in your church 
that would rather be with the ungodly than with 
God's people look out for their piety. It isn't skin 
deep. 

Did you ever think of the yards and yards of talk 
that you hear that doesn't amount to anything? 

There are many Christians in the world about 
waist deep, and then they wonder why they haven't 
any power or influence. 

Don't let the world get hold of you. Keep it 
under. 

Let every man use the talent God has given him. 



162 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

Don't be mourning because you haven't more, 
but just take what you have and go to work. 

If you can reach a man by taking him to the Epis- 
copal church, take him to the Episcopal church. If 
you can reach him by taking him to the Baptist 
church, take him to the Baptist church. Never 
mind about the creeds and doctrines. Never mind 
about these names, they are nothing. What we 
want is to get him above these party walls. 

It is the work of the Holy Ghost to convict of sin. 

I have seen people who, when the spirit of God 
has been working mightily, would get up and go 
out and slam the door after them in a bad passion. 
Not a bad sign. 

A great many are always trying to make them- 
selves love God. You cannot do it. Love must be 
spontaneous. You cannot love by trying to make 
yourself love. 

You never in your life saw a man full of God who 
wasn't fullof Scripture. 

I don't know what angel it was tliat got down to 
the plains to tell the shepherds that Christ had come, 
but I have an idea that it was Gabriel. 

I believe John Wesley did as much good as Charles. 
One preached and the other sung the gospel halfway 
around the world in a very short time. 

I don't believe that any four walls are going to 
hold any man's influence. 

I think one of the most lamentable things of this 
day is that Satan can walk right into some of our 
best Christian homes and families and haul the chil- 
dren down into the deepest and darkest depths, and 
we haven't got the power to reach them and bring 
them back. 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 163 

A good many are trying to work with the anoint- 
ing they got many years ago. 

There are a lot of Samsons around who have lost 
their hair. How many sermons have you heard of 
which you cannot remember a single word? 

When the Spirit of God is in a man the fire just 
burns. 

I have no sympathy with the idea if we ask God 
to do a certain work He is going to give us chaff in 
return. 

Sometimes when I have prayed it has seemed as 
if the Heavens were closed over me. 

I have often said I had rather be able to pray like 
Daniel than preach like Gabriel. 

. I am sometimes ashamed of myself to think how 
fluent I am when I go into the presence of God. 
As if God was on an equal footing with me, or 
rather as if I was on an equal footing with God — as 
if there was no difference between us. 

One of the truest signs that a man is growing 
great is that God increases and he decreases. 

The next true element to prayer is restitution. 

It is folly for us to ask God to do something for 
us that we can do for ourselves. 

Let us look out that we are not one of the class 
who come to the Lord constantly for favors and 
never thank Him. 

This is one the sweetest promises Christ left for 
us. *'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose 
mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in 
Thee." 

If I wanted to find a man who had rest I would 
not go among the very wealthy. 
10 



164 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

The man or woman that is looking after the last 
fashion doesn't get rest to his soul. 

Some people go back into the past and rake up all 
the troubles they ever had, and then they look into 
the future and anticipate that they will have still 
more trouble, and then they go reeling and stagger- 
ing all through life. 

About the first thing a mother does is to teach 
her child to look. 

I tell you I had rather have ten thousand enemies 
outside than one inside. 

The moment we begin to rob God then darkness 
and misery and wretchedness will come. 

It is very easy to talk about revivals, but do you 
know that there is not a denomination that hasn't 
sprung out of revivals? 

I venture to say there is many a church where 
four-fifths of the members were converted during 
revivals. 

I believe whenever you see a Christian man's chil- 
dren turn out wrong, a good deal of the fault lies at 
his own door. 

There is one thing about a back-slider, he is 
always fii. ding fault with church members. 

I will challenge you to find a father or mother 
that has back-slidden whose children haven't gone 
to ruin. 

I think the hardest people to reach are the sons 
and daughters of back-sliders. 

That Pharisee that went up to the temple to pray 
with the poor publican, did he know anything about 
meekness? 



MR. MOODY^ CRISP SAYINGS. 165 

You put a man that has been living in wickedness 
and sin in the crystal pavement, and it would be 
Hell to him. 

You may look at your little innocent child, but 
remember that a separation is going to come. If 
that child dies in early childhood, the Master will 
take it to Himself, and you will not be permitted to 
sit in the, kingdom with that child until you are 
bom again. 

When God speaks you and I can afford to listen. 

I pity any man that goes into the pulpit and picks 
that old Bible to pieces. 

I have noticed that when a man does begin to 
pick the Bible to pieces it doesn't take him more 
than five years to tear it all to pieces. What is the 
use of being five years about what you can do in five 
minutes? 

I am not here to defend the Bible. It will take 
care of itself. 

I want to say to any scoffer that has come in here 
to-day, you can laugh at that old Bible, you can 
scolf at your mother's God, you can laugh at min- 
isters and Christians, but the hour is coming when 
one promise in that old book will be worth more to 
you than ten thousand worlds like this. 

It is an old saying, *'Get the lamb and you will 
get the sheep." I gave that up years ago. Give 
me the sheep and then I will have some one to nurse 
the lambs. 

It has always been a mystery to me that a woman 
can turn against the Son of God, for there is not a 
country to-day where Christ is not preached where 
woman is not a slave or a toy. 

I said when I was in Jerusalem that if I had my 



166 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

choice, in a Mohammedan country, of being born a 
woman or a donkey I would rather be a donkey, for 
it is treated better than a woman. 

Every day you put it off you are going back from 
God, and are making it harder for you to be saved. 

Nations are only collections of individuals, and 
what is true of part in regard to character is always 
true of the whole. 

It is a great deal better to j udge our own acts and 
confess them, than go through the world with a 
curse upon us. 

It is not mere gush and sentiment this nation 
wants, so much as it is a revival of downright hon- 
esty. 

A man once said he had a good well, only it would 
dry up in summer and freeze up in winter. Some 
Christians are just like that well, good at certain 
times. 

It is doing a thousand times more harm than all 
the lectures of infidels to hear Christians say, "This 
and this isn't inspired. " 

We want to believe the whole Bible. We want 
to take the whole of it, from Genesis to Revelation. 

I believe that for years after the death of Christ 
the air was full of the words which fell from His 
lips. 

I have a good deal of sympathy with that old col- 
ored woman who said if the Bible said Jonah swal- 
lowed the whale she would believe it; God could 
make a man large enough to swallow a whale. 

The best way to convert an infidel is to take him 
to the prophecies fulfilled. 

I'm glad there are things in the Bible* that I don't 
understand. If I could take that book up and read 



MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 167 

it as I would any other book, I might think I could 
write a book like that, and so could you. I'm glad 
there are heights I haven't been able to climb up 
to. I am glad there are depths I haven't been able 
to fathom. It's the best proof that the book came 
from God. 

I believe that God would have created a world 
rather than that any prophecy should be unfulfilled. 

Dozens of people have repented who don't know 
what repentance is. 

Lots of people think repentance is going to strike 
them like lightning. 

I have learned that sometimes the medicine people 
don't like to take may be the very best medicine for 
them. 

Lots of people think they can go to heaven on a 
good moral character. 

Look at the parable of the prodigal son. I would 
rather be the younger brother than the other. The 
elder brother had what the world calls a moral char- 
acter, and yet I think he was about the meanest case 
in the whole Bible. 

I think the best book on Assurance is the first 
Epistle of John. 

For men who have nothing but essays it is hard to 
get pulpits, and it will be harder in years to come. 

The reason there are so many pulpits vacant is 
that there arn't men enough willing to give the word 
of G»d. 

A great many churches have mere exhortations 
all the time, and it gets very tiresome. 

I don't believe there is any place in the world 
where error has such a slim chance of getting a hold 
as in Scotland. The Scotch are a most wonderful 



168 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 

people. You've got to be careful in preaching to 
them, or the first thing you know some old woman 
will come up with her Bible under her shawl, and 
say: "Here; you said so and so. The Bible says 
so and so." If you make a misquotation, a Scotch- 
man will straighten you right up ; but you might 
make forty misquotations in American churches and 
no one would know the difference. 

In Scotland a minister doesn't think of preaching 
till everybody has found the text. 

If we had more of the word of God there would 
be fewer defalcations and scandals inside the 
church. 

It seems to me the time is coming when there 
should be a change in the churches of God in this 
land. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

The following are some of the anecdotes related 
by Mr. Moody at Cooper Union meeting, New 
York, November 20, 1896. 

A man went out of the jail at Chicago to go to 
Joliet to serve a seven years' sentence, and a friend 
put a religious book into his hand, while he was in 
the jail at Chicago. Some time after he had gone to 
Joliet this friend visited him, and found that the 
cover of his little book was nearly worn off, and he 
had sewed it on with thread, and the book was pretty 
well worn out. His friend noticed that he had nine- 
teen names written on the back of the book, and he 
inquired "What have you got those names there for?" 
"Well," the prisoner replied, "those are the aames 
of prisoners who have read this book." "But here 
is a cross against three of them; what does that 
mean?" said his friend. "Oh," he said, "those are 
my brothers." "What do you mean by that?" 
"Well," he said, "I read that book in the jail in 
Chicago and was converted, and I thought when I 
came down here I would try and get some more con- 
verts, and I have loaned that book to nineteen 
prisoners, and when any prisoner tells me he is con- 
verted, I put a cross against his name. ' ' Pretty good 
investment, was it not? The book cost less than ten 
cents. jgg 



170 TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

My son was speaking down at Brockton, Mass. , 
the other Sunday. You see I have got him stirred 
up, and the secretary of the Christian Association 
said to him when the meeting was over, "Perhaps 
you' will be intercbtedin something that occurred in 
our rooms a little while ago. A young man, quite 
a nice looking fellow, came in and wanted to know 
if I could not give him work. I told him I could not. 
He was from out of town, and I thought if I could 
find work for anyone I ought to put it in the hands 
of some man of Brockton, and he turned away with 
a look on his face that kind of haunted me, and so I 
called him back and said : 

"Look here, my friend, you seem to be quite dis- 
appointed. I have some colporter's books here. I 
want you to take them and go out on the street and 
try to sell them." The young man colored up, and 
I said, "Do you mean that you are ashamed to s^W 
those books?" He replied, "Oh, no; that very book 
you hold in your hand was given to me in jail, and 
it led me to Jesus Christ, and when I got out, I 
thought I would leave my own country and neigh- 
borhood and go among strangers and start life anew, 
and when I went to your place and saw the Christian 
Association, I thought maybe they could find some- 
thing for me to do, so that I could get among Chris- 
tian people. " So that young rrtan took the books 
and went out on the street and sold them right and 
left, and a business man noticed him and liked the 
way he worked, and he hired him and gave him 
steady employment ; so you see, my friends, it is a 
very good investment. 

Some Englishmen went to Africa a good many 
years ago to colonize. They came to a beautiful 




O jj 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 173 

spot, and thought it would be a good place to estab- 
lish a town, and after they had decided to stay there, 
they asked a native if there was plenty of rain there 
the year round. The native said no, that there 
were a few months in the year when everything 
dried up, so they thought that would not do, 
and they went on to another place that looked invit- 
ing, and they asked a native how it was there about 
the rain, and the native told them that in certain 
months everything dried up. Well, that would not 
do, and they went to a third place, and made the 
same inquiry, and the reply was that the clouds 
were pierced the year round and everything was 
beautiful and green, and the Englishmen decided to 
stay there, and they founded a town and flourished. 
So we want to keep right under the pierced clouds 
all the time. 

I remember the first time I went to California. I 
dropped down out of the Sierra Nevada mountains, 
where the snow was forty feet deep, into the Sacra- 
mento valley, where it was like midsummer, and I 
saw ranches that were perfectly beautiful, every- 
thing green and luxurious, and where everything 
seemed to be flourishing, but sometimes right across 
a fence I would see another ranch where there was 
nothing green and everything seemed to have dried 
up. I said to a gentleman in the train, "I do not 
understand this, what does it mean? There is a 
ranch that is green and flourishing, and there is an- 
other that has nothing green about it. It looks dried 
up." "Oh," said he, "you are a stranger here." 
I said, "Yes, that was my first visit." "Well," he 
said, "that man there irrigates and brings the water 
down from the mountains, and in consequence he 



174 TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

raises two or three crops a year, while the man that 
owns the other ranch, does not raise hardly any- 
thing, because he does not irrigate." In many 
churches you will find men and women as dry as 
Gideon's fleece. Some people will come and go and 
occupy the same pew for forty years and not move 
an inch. Another man right close to him is active 
and bright, and everything he touches seems to 
grow ; the breath of God seems to be upon him. 

When I was a young man and preached out in the 
West — I was a commercial traveler then — I would 
go into a little town and hold a meeting in a log 
schoolhouse, when some old gentleman would say, 
"This young brother from Chicago will speak here 
this evening at early candle light," and the first 
person that came would bring an old dingy lantern 
and stick it up on a bench — even an old lantern with 
old oil and a wick, you know, gives out consider- 
able light after all on a dark night — and the next 
person that came, an old woman, perhaps, would 
bring along a sperm candle, and then would come 
an old farmer with another candle, and they would 
stick them up on the desks, and they would sputter 
away there, yet all the time giving a good deal of 
light, and do you know, by the time the people got 
together there in that old school house we had plenty 
of light. Now, it can be just so here in New York; 
there are Christians enough here to light up the 
whole city. 

You remember that it was revealed to Elijah that 
he should be caught up into heaven. He was with 
Elisha at Gilgal, and he said to Elisha, "Let lis go 
to Bethel and see how the prophets are getting 
along." They had a sort of theological seminary 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 175 

down there, as it were. Well, Elijah and Elisha 
went to Bethel, and I suppose their arrival created 
no small stir among those young prophets, for it had 
been revealed to them that Elijah was to be taken 
away, and one of them got Elisha off alone, as I can 
imagine, and whispered to him, *'Do you know that 
your man is to be taken away?" "Sh! sh ! hold your 
peace," said Elisha, "I know all about it. " Pres- 
ently, Elijah said to Elisha, *'You stay here now, 
and I'll go down to Jericho and see how the prophets 
are getting along there," for there was another the- 
ological seminary down there, but Elisha would not 
let him go alone, and went with him. When they 
got down there, another prophet got Elisha to one 
side and said, "Do you know that Elijah is to be 
taken away?" "Yes, I know all about it," said Eli- 
sha; "keep still, do not say anything." Presently, 
Elijah turned to Elisha and said, "Elisha, you stay 
here with the prophets, and I will go over to the 
Jordan and worship." Elisha said, "As the Lord 
liveth and as I live, you will not go without me. ' ' 
He tried to leave him up there at Bethel, and he 
would not be left, and I can imagine him locking 
arms with Elijah and going along with him, as they 
started to the Jordan together. I was in Palestine 
some time ago, and oh, how I longed to see the 
very spot where those two men crossed the Jordan ; 
as they passed along down the valley and came to 
the river, Elijah took off his mantle and waved it, 
and the waters began to recede on either side of 
them and piled up higher and higher, and they 
stepped down into the bed of the river and crossed, 
and climbed up the bank on the eastern side, and 
passed out into the desert. And by-and-by the two 



176 TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

men disappeared. I had wished that their whole 
conversation had been put on record, but, alas, there 
came a whirlwind which caught up the sand and dirt 
and drove it into their eyes, and the two men got 
separated, but before they were separated, Elijah 
turned to Elisha and said, ' ' What is it that you want?' ' 
I tried to leave you back there at Bethel, but you 
would not stay. Make your petition known. What- 
ever you ask I will grant it. " I think if some of our 
millionaires in New York should ask me to make my 
petition known to them, that they would grant it, 
I would draw on them for enough money to support 
my schools at Northfield. I would not be afraid to 
make my petition known, and I would get a big 
draft. 

But, as I said, this whirlwind separated the two 
men. The Master was going to take Elijah away, 
and I can imagine Elisha getting the sand and dust 
out of his eyes and exclaiming, "Where is my mas- 
ter?" and looking in all directions for him, and sud- 
denly he looked up and saw a flame of fire , and he 
cried out, *'My Father, my Father," and '*the cha- 
riot of Israel and the horsemen thereof . " Elijah 
remembered his promise as Elisha called to him, 
and he took off his mantle and threw it back, and 
Elisha took off his old mantle and rent it. 

When Mr. Moody was asked at the last service in 
Cooper Union whether he was satisfied with his 
New York campaign, he replied: "Satisfied, I am 
not satisfied. I did not come to New York to reach 
sinners, but to reach Christians. I wish them to 
live on a higher plane, to be comforted to the image 
of Christ. If that result has not been reached, my 
work here will be of little avail, and the result will 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 177 

soon pass away like a cloud. ' ' For five weeks Mr. 
Moody preached twice a day, five days in the week 
in Cooper Union, to audiences which taxed the re- 
sources of that large hall to its utmost seating capa- 
city, and sometimes its standing capacity. In addi- 
tion to these meetings, he preached every Sunday in 
November and December in Carnegie Music Hall. 

"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." 
Now, I come to the Sunday newspapers. I would 
not touch a Sunday newspaper any more than I 
would touch tar. If there are any attacks on me 
next Sunday I won't see them, for if anyone sends 
me a Sunday newspaper, I always tear it up. Noth- 
ing is doing more damage to the church and God 
than the Sunday newspaper. The papers abuse 
Tammany, but Tammany never did one-fourth as 
much harm in this city as have the Sunday newspa- 
pers. There are about twenty-five thousand divorces 
every year in the United States. Many of them are 
directly due to the Sunday newspapers, which pub- 
lish accounts of divorces in all their details. The 
Sunday newspapers are responsible for many sui- 
cides and murders. All the theaters in Chicago are 
open on Sunday, as the result of the Sunday news- 
papers. In Chicago men are knocked down and 
robbed in open daylight. Murders occur every 
day. Masked men go into stores and rob them. 
There is not a divorce case which is full of filth, 
there is not a case of adultery which the Sunday 
newspapers do not rake up and publish. The Angel 
Gabriel could not be heard by the Sunday newspaper 
readers. Now, how many will swear that they will 
never again read a Sunday newspaper? 

Once on a battlefield, Napoleon's horse became 

12 



178 TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

frightened, and a private jumped from the ranks 
and grasped the bridle and quieted him. Napoleon 
looked at the soldier and said, ' 'Thank you, cap- 
tain. " "Of what company, sire?" asked the soldier. 
With a moment's hesitation, "The life guards," 
said Napol-eon. The soldier went at once to the life 
guards and placed himself at the head of the com- 
pany. The officers were going to put him under 
arrest; but he told them he was captain. "Who 
said so?" demanded the officers. "He said so," 
replied the soldier, pointing to Napoleon. If God 
says a thing in this hook, you lay hold of it and be- 
lieve without question. 

There is a man living in this city, who has a home 
on the Hudson river. His daughter and her family 
went to spend the winter with him, and in the course 
of the season the scarlet fever broke out. One little 
girl was put in quarantine, to be kept separate from 
the rest. Every morning the old grandfather used to 
go upstairs and bid his grandchild good-bye before 
going to his business. On one of these occasions the 
little thing took him by the hand, and leading him 
to a corner of the room, without saying a word, she 
pointed to the floor where she had arranged some 
crackers, so they would spell out "Grandpa, I want 
a box of paints. ' ' He said nothing. On his return 
he hung up his overcoat, and went to the room as 
usual, when his little grandchild, without looking to 
see if her wish had been complied with, took him to 
the same corner where he spelled out in the same 
way, "Grandpa, I thank you for the box of paints." 
Don't you think the old gentleman was pleased with 
the faith his little grandchild had in him? 

I had a large Sunday-school in Chicago with twelve 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 179 

or fifteen hundred scholars. I was very much pleased 
with the numbers. If the attendance kept up, I was 
pleased, but I didn't see a convert. I was not look- 
ing for cpnversions. There was one class in a corner 
of the large hall made up of young women, who 
caused more trouble than any other class in the 
school. There was only one man who could ever 
manage that class and keep it in order. If he could 
keep the class quieted, it was about as much as we 
could hope for. One day this teacher was missing, 
and I taught the class. The girls laughed in my 
face. I never felt so tempted to turn anyone from 
Sunday-school as those girls; never saw such frivol- 
ous girls. I couldn't make any impression on them. 
The next day the teacher came into the store. I 
noticed that he looked very pale, and I asked him 
what was the trouble. "I have been bleeding at the 
lungs," he said, "and the doctor said I cannot live. 

I must give up my class and go back to my wid- 
owed mother in New York State. " As he spoke, 
his chin quivered, and the tears began to fall. I 
said I was sorry, and added, ''You are not afraid of 
death, are you?" "Oh, no, I am not afraid to die; 
but I shall soon stand before m}^ Master. What 
shall I tell Him of my class. Not one of them is a 
Christian. I have made a failure of my work. " 

I have never heard anyone speak in that way, 
and I said, "Why not visit every girl and ask her to 
become a Christian?" "I am very weak," he said, 
"too weak to walk." I offered to take a carriage 
and go with him. He consented, and we started 
out. Going first to one house and then to another, 
the pale teacher sometimes leaning on my arm, he 
saw each girl, and calling her by name, Mary, or 



180 TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 

Martha, or whatever it was, he asked her to become 
a Christian, telling her he was going home to die, 
and that he wanted to know that his scholars had 
given their hearts to God. Then he would pray 
with her, and I would pray with her ; so we went 
from house to house, and after he used up all his 
strength, I would take him home, and the next day 
we would go out again. Sometimes he went alone. 
At the end of ten days he came to the store, his face 
beaming with joy. "The last girl has yielded her 
heart to Christ. I am going home to New York. 
I have done all that I can do, and my work is done. " 
I asked when he was going, and he said, "To- 
morrow night." I said, "Would you like to see 
your class together before you go?" He said he 
would, and I asked if he thought the landlady would 
allow the use of her sitting-room. He thought she 
would. So I sent word to all the girls, and they all 
came together. I had never spent such a night up 
to that time. I had never met such a large number 
of young converts. The teacher gave an earnest 
talk, and then prayed, and then I prayed. As I 
was about to rise^ I heard one of the girls begin to 
pray. She prayed for her teacher, and she prayed 
for the superintendent. " Up to that time I never 
knew that anyone prayed for me in that way. 
When she had finished, another girl prayed. Before 
we arose, every girl had prayed. What a change 
had come over them in a short space of time. We 
tried to sing, but did not get on very well. We 
bade one another good-bye, but I felt that I must 
see the teacher again before he left Chicago, and so 
I met him at the station, and while we were talking, 
one of the girls came along, and then another, until 



TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 181 

the whole class had assembled. They were all there 
on the platform. It was a beautiful summer night. 
The sun was just setting down behind the western 
prairies. It was a sight I shall never forget. A 
few gathered around us — the fireman, engineer, 
brakeman and conductor on the train, and some of 
the passengers lifted their windows as the class 
sang together — 

"Here we meet to part again, 
But when we meet on Canaan's shore, 
There'll be no parting there." 

As the train moved out of the station, the pale- 
faced teacher stood on the platform, and with his 
finger pointing heavenward, said, "I will meet you 
there." Then the train disappeared from view. 




182 



CHAPTER XV. 



MR. MOODY'S BIBLE. 

Mr. Moody's Bible was a spectacle indeed, marked, 
underscored, much of it defaced with hieroglyphics, 
ragged with incessant use, but only one of many. 
He was always wearing out bibles or filling their 
margins and passing them on. It was a treasure, 
indeed, for many to get hold of these and one was 
welcome if they would give as much as they would 
take. 

Great interleaved Bibles are now in cir- ' 
culation, to which he had contributed many of his 
gleanings from the stores of observation and 
research, but he expected them to come back with 
additions from those who had had the loan. A ad 
he was quick to lay hold of any fresh point or strik- 
ing illustration to incorporate in the address which 
he was always engaged in preparing, re-modeling 
or adding to. His process of sermon manufacture 
was very original. There was something automatic 
about it. The basis for each sermon was a big 
envelope, labeled Repentance, Faith, Peter, Zac- 
cheus, the Elder Son; into this envelope he put 
clippings from papers, extracts from books, illustra- 
tions and incidents, scraps of all kinds, which were 
more or less connected with the subject. When 
this process had continued for some time, he went 
183 



184 MR. MOODY'S BIBLE. 

through the mass of accumulation, rejecting some, 
laying hold of some, fitting it into a connecting 
whole. Of this he took a few jottings in a large 
hand to the pulpit or platform. The process of look- 
ing through the envelope was constantly repeated 
so the points that had been overlooked were brought 
to his mind, fresh illustrations introduced and the 
entire subject was entered anew in all its lights. 
This secured freshness of delivery, and preserved 
him from the monotony of perpetual repetition. 



DEATH OF MR. MOODY'S MOTHER. 

Betsey Holton Moody, the mother of the great 
evangelist, died at her home in Northfield, January 
26, 1896, aged ninety-one years. She left to mourn 
her loss four sons and three daughters. 

Mr. Moody made an address at her funeral and it 
was the more remarkable, because he told not only 
of her love and patience, but also of her stern dis- 
cipline. "She was so loving a mother," he said, 
"that when we were away we were always glad to 
get back. But I never shall forget her old-fashioned 
whippings. I believe in them to-day." He also 
spoke of her way of making all her boys go to 
church. He was strongly of the impression that the 
teachings which he imbibed in those early days, in a 
great measure, influenced his subsequent life. 

Mr. Moody's mother was buried in a large plat of 
ground contiguous to the cemetery. It was always 
kept beautifully filled in with flowers placed there 
by a young man at the special instigation of Mr. 
Moody. Mr. Moody, in the summer after her death, 



MR. MOODY'S BIBLE. 185 

when standing by her grave with her friends, said : 
*'She made home so pleasant. I thought so much 
of my mother and cannot say half enough. The 
dear face, there was no sweeter face on earth. Fifty 
years I have been coming back and was always glad 
to get back. When I got within fifty miles of home 
I always grew restless and walked up and down the 
car. It seemed as if the train would never get to 
Northfield. For sixty-eight years she lived on that 
hill, and when I came back after dark I always 
looked to see the light of my mother's window. It 
was because she made our home so happy that she 
started me thinking how to make homes happy for 
others, and when God took mother he gave me 
these little children. Here is one century that is 
passed. And here is the century that's coming, " 
and with this he beckoned for the little babes and 
other children who were on hand in their mother's 
arms, and they were brought into the circle and 
dedicated to God in united prayers. 



MOODY MEETS MISS WILLARD. 
Miss Frances E. Willard, the celebrated temper- 
ance advocate, was identified with Mr. Moody in 
several of his meetings. Miss Willard said that she 
would never forget a stormy Sabbath day early in 
1877 when through a blinding snow 9,000 women 
gathered at the Tabernacle in Chicago to hear a ser- 
mon especially for them, from what she termed the 
most successful evangelistic of the Christian era. 
It was then she and Mr. Moody met for the first 
time and he asked her to lead the meeting in prayer. 
She said she never beheld a more impressive scene. 



186 MOODY'S BIBLE. 

At the close of the meeting in January of that year 
Mr. Moody sent for Miss Willard to come to his 
hotel, and he asked her to accompany him to Boston 
and help in the women's meeting there. She said 
she would be glad to do so, but that she wanted to 
consult her mother about it. He asked her what 
her means of support were and she told him that her 
expenses were paid by the W. C. T. U. while she 
worked for them, but that if she should devote her 
time to revival meetings even that source of income 
would cease. Mr. Moody suggested that they pray 
for light; this they did and the interview ended. 
Her mother liked the plan and early in February 
she took up her work in Boston and devoted consid- 
erable time each morning to the study of the Bible. 

One day as Miss Willard was about to open her 
new meeting in the Burkley Street Church, Mr. 
Moody came rushing up the steps and said that he 
had heard that she had been talking temperance all 
around the suburbs. He asked her why she did this 
and stated that he wanted her attention to the Bos- 
ton meeting. She replied that she had no money 
and that it was necessary that she should go out 
and earn some. Moody seemed perplexed and 
wanted to know whether he had given her nothing. 
She replied that he had not. He then wanted to know 
if certain people had not paid her way from Chicago 
and sent her money for traveling expenses. She 
said that they had not. Moody said that he guessed 
that they had forgotten it and rushed away. That 
night when she was going to a meeting he thrust a 
generous check in her hand. 

Miss Willard continued throughout the Boston 
meeting, and then devoted herself to other work. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 

On November 15, 1899, Mr. Moody told the min- 
isters who were associated with him in the revival 
which he was holding in the great Convention Hall 
at Kansas City, that he was nearly exhausted, and 
that he must have rest, and that he would not lead 
the after-meetings in the church as had been his 
custom previously. Mr. Moody had been holding 
revival services in Kansas City for some weeks, and 
they had been remarkably successful. The great 
effort, however, in speaking in an immense hall, 
was too much for his years and strength. The next 
day a physician was called after he left the hall, and 
went to his hotel, and the next evening he an- 
nounced himself very much better; he said he did 
not know just what was the matter with him, but 
that he was under the impression that he had a lit- 
tle cold and a little touch of malaria, but that he was 
being brought around all right. He concluded that 
in order to cure himself that he would only hold two 
meetings each day in Convention Hall. The morn- 
ing and afternoon prayer-meeting and the after 
meetings, all of which were held in the Second 
Presbyterian church, were led by someone else; 
Mr. Moody was not present. In four days that 
week some three hundred people had expressed 
187 



188 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 

their intention of becoming Christians. The names 
and addresses of all the converts were taken, with 
their church preferences, if any, and these facts 
were to determine who should look after them until 
they were safely landed in the right path and to be 
able to see their own way to salvation. 

On the 17th of November, for the first time in 
forty years as a preacher-evangelist, Mr. Moody was 
obliged to give up and leave a meeting. Mr. Moody 
found himself worse on Friday morning, and he kept 
getting worse, until, by noon, his physician, Dr. E.W. 
Schauffler, found his patient becoming so weak that 
he informed him that it would not be advisable for 
him to preach at the afternoon meeting. Mr. Moody 
held out until the last moment, hoping his strength 
would revive, but finally was reluctantly compelled 
to coincide with his physician in his views. 

As the morning wore on, Mr. Moody's friends saw 
that he kept growing weaker, and it was not long 
before Mr. Moody himself decided that he must do 
what he had never done before in his life, abandon 
a series of meetings before its close, and go as soon 
as possible to his home in Northfield, Mass. It 
almost broke his heart to carry out such a decision, 
but his rapidly waning strength warned him that he 
should be at home where he could have the cheer- 
ing and reviving influences which would come to 
him from the ministrations of his wife and family. 

Accordingly, arrangements were made for the 
journey by the road which would get him to his 
home in as short a time and in as comfortable a 
manner as possible. No special or private car in 
the city being available at that time, Mr. and Mrs. 
Neil, the evangelists, tendered the use of their gos- 




^ 5 c 



m-^^BNa>- 



THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 191 

pel car, "The Messenger of Peace." This was 
accepted, and it was attached to the Wabash train. 
Mr. Moody left Kansas City at 9.15 o'clock on the 
night of November 17th for the long journey to his 
home, going by way of St. Louis and Buffalo. Mrs. 
Neil accompanied the car to assist in nursing the 
sick man, who was also accompanied by Dr. Robert 
Schauffler, who, with his father, had been attending 
Mr. Moody, and by Mr. Charles M. Vining, teller of 
the Union National Bank, who went at Mr. Moody's 
special request, Mr. Vining having been a classmate 
and intimate friend of Mr. Moody's son at college. 
Mr. Moody's friends say that he had shown much 
physical weakness since his arrival at Kansas City, 
and there had been a rapid running down in his 
condition, and to this they attributed the fact that 
he had seemed to fail to get the hold upon his audi- 
ences which was usual with him. 

His talks had appeared to lack the power and con- 
vincing energy to which those who had heard him 
frequently were accustomed, still there had been a 
great awakening among religious people, and quick- 
ening of the spirit, which had resulted in great good 
to the church. The foundation had been laid upon 
which great revivals in the individual churches 
could be raised, while the way had been opened for 
successful evangelical meetings, as they had been 
previously advertised in nearly all the churches in 
the city. The direct results in actual converts at 
the meetings, however, had not been nearly so large 
as was usual in his meetings. 

Mr. Moody himself, nevertheless, did not appear 
to have any fears but that he would be able to go 
on with his evangelistic meetings after a few days. 
11 



192 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 

He regretted very much to leave the Kansas City 
meetings, and he cancelled an engagement which 
he had for beginning a series of meetings at Roches- 
ter, N. Y., on the following Wednesday. 

He said that it was not the speaking in the hall 
there that had brought on his illness. The speak- 
ing, he said, did not specially tire him, as he felt no 
pain or difficulty while preaching. It was in walk- 
ing back and forth from Convention Hall to the 
Coates House, where he stopped, that he felt pain 
and difficulty in breathing. 

Mr. Moody thought of the meetings up to the time 
he left, sending a special word over to the evening 
meetings, thanking the choir for their services, and 
asking all to continue under the arrangement 
whereby the meetings were to continue on to the 
next Simday evening as planned. He also thanked 
the ministers for the cordial support they had given 
him, and the reporters for their work, saying he had 
never held meetings in a city where the newspapers 
had reported his meetings with more appreciation 
and cordiality. 

Mr. Moody's last sermon was on the night of No- 
vember 1 6th, was on the parable of a certain man 
who made a great feast and invited his friends, but 
when these friends all sent their regrets, he went 
out into the streets and invited everybody, and into 
the hedge rows and compelled people to come, de- 
claring meanwhile that they who had been invited 
and refused to come should not taste of his feast. 

Mr. Moody took up the excuses of those who 
refused to go to the feast, and showed how frivolous 
they were. The man who had just bought a piece 
of land surely knew what it was before he bought 



THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 193 

it. So with the oxen and the man who married — 
his bride would undoubtedly have been glad to go 
to the king's banquet, 

"These excuses do look pretty foolish now when I 
hold them up to you," said Mr. Moody, "but I have 
an invitation to-night to all of you to attend a royal 
feast — the marriage supper of the Lamb — and your 
excuses for not coming are even more frivolous and 
false. 

"Men at the present time are about all making 
excuses. The habit is as old as Adam. Adam made 
a mean, contemptible excuse; said it was his wife; 
he even threw the blame back upon God, and said, 
'This woman that Thou gavestme. ' But men all 
have excuses. They have not the moral courage to 
say they don't want to go to the feast; they lay 
awake nights to make up excuses, and if I were to 
tear up every excuse that you have here to-night 
and then jump down off this platform and ask the 
first man down there, he would have a new excuse 
ready. I tell you excuses are the devil's cradles to 
rock souls off to sleep in." 

Mr. Moody then took up the excuses men most 
frequently give for not becoming Christians. " 'The 
Bible is not true,' they say. They criticise the Bible 
who have never read it, never study it, don't know 
anything about it. Some say, 'I don't know as I 
have been foreordained to be saved' ; others stay 
out because 'there are so many hypocrites in the 
church. ' ' ' 

Said Mr. Moody: "I'll find a hundred hypocrites 
in the world to where you will find one in the 
Church. Of course, there are hypocrites in the 
church — the tares and the wheat grow up together ; 



194 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 

but if you stay out of church because there are 
hypocrites in it, why don't you quit your business 
because there are hypocrites in that? Are you a 
grocer? There are folks in this country who grind 
marble up in the sugar. Are you a lawyer? Are 
there any hypocrites among the lawyers? Are you 
a doctor? Are there any quacks among the doctors? 
Are you a Republican? Are there any hypocrites 
there? Or a Democrat? 'But,' you say, 'I don't 
belong to either ; I am a Prohibitionist. ' Are there 
any hypocrites among the prohibition parties? 

"Oh, I am about tired and sick of people trying to 
live on the faults of others; you can't get very fat 
on that ; look out for the men who are always howl- 
ing about hypocrites; they are hypocrites them- 
selves." 

Other excuses which were given were treated very 
much in the same manner by the speaker, who 
finally said that there were two excuses which were 
more universal than any, but which are seldom 
avowed. "One is the lack of moral courage," said 
he; "they are a pack of cowards waiting to enter 
the kingdom of God if they would act up to their 
convictions. The other excuse is sin. People have 
some sin possibly they do not want people to know 
about, but they don't want to give that sin up as 
they would have to do if they became Christians." 

Mr. Moody closed by stating that if an excuse was 
written out by one of the reporters asking God, "I 
pray Thee have more excuses from the marriage 
feast, ' * that no one in the house would sign it, but 
those who go out of the house without accepting the 
invitation virtually do the same thing. If the note 
was written to go to God direct, "I will be there," 



THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 195 

all would want to sign it. "Now, ' ' said the preacher, 
**how many will accept this invitation? How many 
will say, *I will?' " 

Half a dozen, scattered through the audience, re- 
sponded, and as Mr. Moody repeated the request, 
there was as many more that had been stirred to 
the heart by his resistless logic, and as he said, "I 
will wait a few moments longer to see if any one 
else, any man, woman or child, will say the word. 
I could stand here all night and listen to those 'I 
wills.' " 

The responses came from all parts of the great 
hall until about half a hundred had responded to 
the invitation held out by Mr. Moody. 

Mr. Moody arrived in St. Louis the next day, and 
after partaking of a hearty breakfast at the Union 
Station, continued his journey home. In the morn- 
ing he sent the following telegram to the Conven- 
tion Hall meeting at Kansas City: "I thank the 
good people of Kansas City for all their kindness to 
me. Had best night in a week. Heart stronger 
and temperature nearly normal." 

Mr. Moody reached Northfield, Sunday, the 19th. 

His wife and son, William R. Moody, had gone to 
Buffalo to meet him, but as he did not stop in Buf- 
falo, they missed each other. He went to Greenfield 
over the Fitchburg road, where he was met by his 
youngest son, Paul, with a pair of horses, and was 
at once driven over the country roads to East North- 
field, twelve miles away. The ride apparently did 
Mr. Moody much good, and he expressed himself as 
greatly pleased at having reached his home. 

He sent the following telegram, which was read 
at the opening of the last meeting of the revival in 



196 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 

Kansas City that night to ten thousand people: 
"East Northfield, Mass., November 19th. Have 
reached here safely; have traveled back and forth 
for forty years, and never felt better. Regret 
heartily that I had to leave Kansas City. Had I 
been there to-night, I would have preached on 'They 
are not far from the Kingdom. ' My prayer is, that 
many be led into the kingdom under Mr. Torrey's 
preaching. I want to thank the good people of 
Kansas City for their kindness and prayers. Dr. 
Robert Schauffler and Mr. Vining have been of 
great help, and I appreciate your kindness in send- 
ing them. " (Signed.) Dwight L. Moody. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



DEATH OF MOODY. 

With the words *'God is calling me," Dwighf L. 
Moody, the evangelist, whose fame was world wide, 
fell asleep in death, at his home in East Northfield, 
Mass., at noon, December 22, 1899. The passing of 
his spirit from a body which had been tortured with 
pain for some weeks, to the rest beyond, was as 
gentle as could be wished for. His family were 
gathered at his bedside, and the dying man's last 
moments were spent in comforting them and in 
contemplation of that reward for which he had so 
long and earnestly labored. He knew that death 
was near, but its sting to him was lost in the un- 
folding to his mental vision of a beautiful scene, 
judging from his last words. 

The gathering of the family around the bedside 
of the great evangelist was a scene that will be re- 
ferred to many times in years to come, as Mr. 
Moody's work is carried forward. Besides the fam- 
ily there were present also Drs. Schofield and Woods, 
and the nurse. 

During the night, Mr. Moody had a number of 
sinking spells. He was, however, kindness itself 
to those about him. At two o'clock in the morning 
Dr. N. P. Wood, the family physician, who spent 
the night in the house, was called at the request of 
197 



198 DEATH OF MOODY. 

Mr. Moody. He was perspiring, and he requested 
his son-in-law, A. P. Fitt, who spent the night with 
him, to call the physician that he might note the 
symptoms. Dr. Wood administered a hypodermic 
injection of strychnia. This caused the heart to 
perform its duties more regularly, and Mr. Moody 
himself requested his son-in-law, Mr. Fitt, and Dr. 
Wood to retire. Mr. Moody's eldest son, Will R. 
Moody, who had been sleeping the first of the night, 
spent the last half with his father. 

At 7. 30 in the morning Dr. Wood was called, and 
when he reached Mr. Moody's room found his 
patient in a semi-conscious condition. When Mr. 
Moody recovered consciousness, he said, with all his 
old vivacity: 

* 'What's the matter; what's going on here?" 

Some member of the family replied: "Father, 
you haven't been quite so well, and so we came in to 
see you." 

A little later he said to his boys: "I have always 
been an ambitious man, not ambitious to lay up 
wealth, but to leave you work to do. ' ' In substance 
Mr. Moody urged his two boys and his son-in-law, 
Mr. Fitt, to see that the schools in East Northfield, 
at Mt. Hermon and the Chicago Bible institute should 
receive their best care. This they assured Mr. 
Moody they would do. 

During the forenoon, Mrs. A. P. Fitt, his daughter, 
said to him: "Father, we can't spare you." Mr. 
Moody's reply was: "I'm not going to throw my 
life away. If God has more work for me to do, I'll 
not die." 

As the noonday hour drew near the watchers at 
the bedside noted the approach of death. Several 



DEATH OF MOODY. 199 

times his lips moved as if in prayer, but the articula- 
tion was so faint that the words could not be heard. 
Just as death came Mr. Moody awoke as if from 
slumber, and said with much joyousness: 

"I see earth receding; heaven is opening. God is 
calling me." 

And a moment later he had entered upon what 
one of his sons described as "a triumphal march 
into heaven." 

Dr. Wood says that Mr. Moody did not have the 
slightest fear of death. He was thoroughly con- 
scious until within less than a minute of his death. 
Dr. Wood says the cause of his death was heart fail- 
ure. He adds that the walls surrounding the heart 
grew weaker and weaker. While it is true that Mr. 
Moody had symptoms of Bright's disease a few days 
ago, his death was due, the physician says, to dila- 
tion of the heart. There had been dilation in a 
gradual way for the past nine years. The family 
had been told some time ago that Mr. Moody might 
get out and about, but still he was liable to drop 
away at any time. 

There were present in Mr. Moody's chamber when 
he died his wife, his daughter, Mrs. A. P. Fitt, and 
her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Will R. Moody, Paul 
Moody, the youngest son ; Dr. N. P. Wood and Miss 
Powers, the nurse. Mrs. Moody had carried herself 
during the sickness of her husband with the greatest 
bravery and patience, but when death came she was 
prostrated. As soon as Mr. Moody's death became 
known in the village the utmost sorrow was shown. 

The death of Mr. Moody was not unexpected, 
although his temporary recovery from illness was 
hoped for, not only by his friends near at hand, but 
12 



200 DEATH OF MOODY. 

by those who had listened to his words and teachings 
on both continents. In the family there was fear 
that death was not a long way off. The cause of 
death was a general breaking down of his health, 
due to overwork. His constitution was that of an 
exceedingly strong man, but his untiring labors 
had gradually undermined his vitality until that 
most delicate of organs, the heart, showed signs of 
weakness. 

Mr. Moody's exertions in the West during the 
month of November brought on the crisis, and the 
collapse came during the series of meetings at Kan- 
sas City. An early diagnosis by eminent physicians 
made it evident that Mr. Moody's condition was 
serious and cancelling his engagements he returned 
to his home in East Northfield, so near the greatest 
achievements of his later life. 

On reaching his home the family physician, Dr. 
N. P. Wood, took charge of Mr. Moody, and for 
some days bulletins as to the patient's condition 
were issued, all having an encouraging tone, seem- 
ingly, but unerringly pointing to the fact that the 
evangelist's work on earth was about finished. 
During the week previous to the one in which his 
death occurred, a change for the worst prepared 
immediate friends for what was to come. 

In the last week, however, the patient improved 
steadily, until the day before his death, when he 
appeared very nervous. This symptom was accom- 
panied by weakness, which much depressed the 
family, who were anxiously watching the sufferer. 

Mr. Moody's failing health, or, rather, his appre- 
ciation that he must guard the vitalities of his life, 
unless he wished to have his work cut short even 



DEATH OF MOODY. iiUl 

before it was, came when he was in England some 
years ago, when physicians cautioned him. And it 
appeared that he took some heed, but the zeal that 
was in him must find its outlet, and his ceaseless 
work had done the rest. 

At Kansas City, after beginning a short series of 
meetings there, he found that the hand of prostra- 
tion, if nothing more, was laid upon him, and he 
returned to his home to rest and recover. The physi- 
cians and specialists had offered encouragement, 
but coupled it with the reservation that, with his 
vitality impaired by such excessive calls upon it, 
there was a chance that he might recover and be 
ready for more work. They felt, in the light of the 
great efforts of the past, it could not be told with 
surety that this favorable turn would come. The 
end came and the great man passed from earth. 

Mr. Moody made, in his will, provision for his 
wife, but the sons receive a legacy of their father's 
work to continue, and they modestly say they look 
upon it with some tremulousness, realizing that the 
mighty will and intense personality of their father is 
absent. However, the school work at which Mr. 
W. R. Moody is practically the head as representing 
his father's plans and ideas will be continued. The 
outside work they make no pretense of repeating. 
From many sources Mr. Moody received large sums 
of money, and, after the devotion of it to the school 
work, where so directed, was careful and prudent 
with the rest. On his own account, he acquired 
large sums, too, and, after proper provision for his 
home and those nearest him, he gave the rest to his 
work. With many legitimate opportunities to be- 
come a wealthy man, he never used them, and his 



202 DEATH OF MOODY. 

estate is unknown, not large, but presumably large 
enough for the purposes he devised. 

A quiet night followed the day that brought 
bereavement to the Moody family and the town of 
which Mr. Moody and the institutions founded by 
him were such prominent figures. The inmates 
of the Moody home, after a restful night, were astir 
early. Mrs. Moody seemed to be considerably 
refreshed, and the other members of the family had 
gained new strength for their experience during the 
intervals of sleep which came to them. 

Messages of condolence, which began to come in 
the first day, were received in increased numbers 
the next day. Nearly one hundred telegrams from 
all parts of the United States were received during 
the day. A number of cablegrams were also 
received. 

The Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, who has been a 
prominent speaker at Northfield, and who, with Mr. 
Moody, held meetings in several of the large cities 
of the country last fall, cabled from England his 
condolence. 

Some of the expressions of sympathy follow : 

Deepest sympathy and Christian love. Our 
hearts bleed for you. H. M. Moore, 

C. A. Hopkins, 

Boston. 
Sad news just received. Will be there to-morrow. 

Ira D. Sankey, Brooklyn. 
Our entire household bereaved with you. 

H. C. Mabie, Newton. 
Deepest and most affectionate sympathy. A 
wonderful life and a triumphant entrance to the 
Father's house. 

William E. Dodge, New York. 



DEATH OF MOODY. 203 

The whole world seems to be incomplete without 
our dear Moody. God bless and keep you all. 

J. Wilbur Chapman. 

Tenderest sympathy in this overwhelming sorrow. 
Mr. and Mrs. John Wanamaker, 

Philadelphia. 

Please accept and extend to all the family my 
deepest sympathy at the time of this great bereave- 
ment. William H. Haile, 

Springfield, Mass. 

My deepest sympathy. It has been given to few 
men to live a life of such characteristic service as 
did your noble father. Anson P. Stokes. 

Lord and Lady Overton send loving sympathy in 
our common sorrow. All Scotland mourns. Ten- 
derest sympathy with you all. 

George B. Studd, California. 

Profound sorrow. Deepest sympathy. I loved 
Mr. Moody. George F. Pentacost, 

Yonkers, N. Y. 

Your loss is great, but it is for time. Mr. Moody's 
work will live for all eternity. The Salvation Army 
throughout the whole world prays for you. 

Booth-Tucker. 

Permit me to extend sympathy to your family. 
Uppermost in my heart and mind is gratitude to 
God for Mr. Moody's life, J. Willis Baer. 

All Christendom mourns with you. Our prayers 
are that you may be mightily comforted. 

T. De Witt Talmadge. 

You have the deepest sympathy of my race in 
your affliction. Your husband's work is of lasting 
value to both races. Booker T. Washington. 

I profoundly sorrow and sympathize with you and 
rejoice with him who has gone. F. E. Clark. 



204 DEATH OF MOODY. 

Please accept my friendly sympathy in your sad 
bereavement in the death of yonr good husband. 
Fr. Quaille, Northfield. 

I beg yon to accept for yourself and family my 
sincere sympathy in your great loss. 

Marshall Field, Chicago. 

Mrs. Sage unites with me in deepest sympathy 
for you and your family in your sad bereavement. 

Russell Sage. 

We stand by in deepest sympathy. The blank is 
awful ; but our beloved is with the King. God com- 
fort you. C. G. Morgan, London, Eng. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 

The funeral was held at Northfield, December 26. 

During the morning the members of the Moody 
family were with the body, which has lain in the 
death chamber since Mr. Moody's death, Friday. 
Soon after ten o'clock the body was placed in the 
heavy broadcloth casket and removed to the parlor 
of the Moody home, where a simple service of prayer 
was conducted by Mr, Moody's pastor, the Rev. 
C. I. Schofield, and the Rev. R. A. Torrey, of Chi- 
cago. 

At the close of the service the casket was placed 
on a massive bier, and thirty-two Mt. Hermon stu- 
dents bore it to the church, where it was to lie in 
state. The funeral cortege was led by the Rev. 
Messrs. Schofield and Torrey, and followed by the 
members of the various institutions with which Mr. 
Moody was connected, friends, and Christian work- 
ers from all over the United States, and some rep- 
resentatives from foreign countries. 

One of the touching incidents of the morning was 
the appearance on the lawn outside the Moody home 
of the son, Will R. Moody, who stood in the keen 
December air, without hat or overcoat, as the pro- 
cession passed out of the house, until the last 
mourner had left the door; then the young man 
205 



206 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

leaned against a tree and gave vent to his long-sup- 
pressed grief. 

At the church, the body was placed directly in 
front of the altar, and the casket immediately 
opened. Then began to file in the neighbors and 
friends from Northfield and surrounding towns, 
who had known Mr. Moody as a neighbor and per- 
sonal friend, as well as a spiritual helper. 

The casket and the oak burial case which was to 
receive it bore plates with the inscription — 

"Dwight L. Moody, 1837 — 1899." 

Around the casket were banked the numerous and 
beautiful floral offerings, among them being a pil- 
low from the trustees of Mt. Hermon School, bear- 
ing the inscription, in purple and white, ''God is 
calling me"; from the trustees of Northfield Semi- 
nary, an open book ; from the faculty of the Bible 
Institute, in Chicago, a spray of cycas leaves; from 
the girls of Northfield Seminary, a spray of roses ; 
from the Mt. Hermon students, white roses and 
laurels ; from the teachers of the schools, bouquets 
of violets and hyacinths. 

While the body lay in state in the Congregational 
Church, between 11 and 2:30 o'clock, fully three 
thousand persons looked upon the face of the man 
whose name is known the world around and who, it 
was stated by several here to-day, spoke during his 
life-time to billions of people. 

For a small country town, this gathering seemed 
large ; but, in comparison, this number was an infin- 
itesimal delegation from the vast throngs which had 
been influenced by the voice and life of a wonderful 
man. 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 209 

The church services over the remains of Evan- 
gelist Moody were simple but unusually impressive 

The services began at 12 130 o'clock, at which time 
the family arrived, Mr. Will R. Moody with Mrs. D 
L. Moody, Mr. Paul Moody and Mrs. A. P. Fitt, Mr. 
A. P. Fitt, and Mrs. W. R. Moody Following these 
came other relatives — Mr. and Mrs. Isaiah Moody, 
Mr. and Mrs. George F. Moody, Mr. and Mrs. C. M. 
Walker, Mrs. L. C. Washburn and Mr. Edward 
Moody. Following these were the grandchildren and 
members of the faculty and trustees, they having 
come in and taken seats directly behind those occu- 
pied by the family. The Rev Mr. Schofield and 
the Rev. Mr. Torrey, the honorary pallbearers, 
and several clergymen, and the Hon. John Wana- 
maker followed. 

The services opened with a hymn, ''A Little 
While and He Shall Come," and Dr. Schofield fol- 
lowed with prayer. The Rev. A. T. Pierson read 
the Scripture lesson, from II. Corinthians iv. 11 — 
'*For we which live are always delivered unto death 
for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be 
made manifest in our mortal flesh. ' ' This was fol- 
lowed by prayer, by the Rev. George C. Needham, 
after which the congregation sang "Emanuel's 
Land," the music being directed by Prof. A. B 
Phillips, professor of music in the Northfield Insti- 
tute. 

The Rev. Mr. Schofield then pronounced the 
eulogy, saying: 

" ' Weknow. We are always confident. ' That is the 
Christian attitude toward the mystery of death. 
'We know,' so far as the present body is concerned, 
that it is a tent in which we dwell. It is a conve- 

14 



210 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

nience for this present life. Death threatens it, so 
far as we can see, with utter destruction. Soul and 
spirit instinctively cling to this present body. At 
that point revelation steps in with one of the great 
foundational certainties and teaches us to say : 'We 
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ' 

"There is a natural body and there is a spiritual 
body. But that is not all. Whither after all shall 
we go when this earthly tent dwelling is gone? To 
what scenes does death introduce us? What, in a 
word, lies for the Christian just across that little 
trench which we call a grave? Here is a new and 
most serious cause of solicitude. And here again 
revelation brings to faith the needed word : 'We are 
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from 
the body and to be at home with the Lord. ' 

*'Note, now, how that assurance gives confidence. 
First, in that the transition is instantaneous. 
To be absent from the body is to be at home with 
the Lord. And secondly, every question of the 
soul which might bring back an answer of fear is 
satisfied with that one little word 'home. ' 

' 'And this is the Christian doctrine of death. 'We 
know.' 'We are always confident.' In this tri- 
umphant assurance Dwight L. Moody lived, and at 
high noon last Friday he died. We are not met, 
dear friends, to mourn a defeat, but to celebrate a 
triumph. He 'walked with God and he was not, 
for God took him. * There in the West, in the pres- 
ence of great audiences of 12,000 of his fellow men, 
God spoke to him to lay it all down and come home. 
He would have planned it so. 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 211 

"This is not the place, nor am I the man to pre. 
sent a study of the life and character of Dwight L. 
Moody. No one will ever question that we are lay- 
ing to-day in the kindly bosom of earth the mortal 
body of a great man. Whether we measure great- 
ness by quality of character or by qualities of intel- 
lect, Dwight L. Moody must be accounted great 

* 'The basis of Mr. Moody's character was sincerity, 
genuineness. He had an inveterate aversion to all 
forms of sham, unreality and pretense. Most of all 
did he detest religious pretence or cant. Along 
with this fundamental quality Mr. Moody cherished 
a great love of righteousness His first question 
concerning any proposed action was: 'Is it right?' 
But these two qualities, necessarily at the bottom of 
all noble characters, were in him suffused and trans- 
figured by divine grace. Besides all this, Mr. Moody 
was in a wonderful degree brave, magnanimous and 
unselfish. 

"Doubtless this unlettered New England country 
boy became what he was by the grace of God. The 
secrets of Dwight L. Moody's power were: First, in 
a defiaite experience of Christ's saving grace. He 
had passed out of death into life, and he knew it. 
Secondly, Mr. Moody believed in the divine author- 
ity of the Scriptures. The Bible was, to him, the 
voice of God, and he made it resound as such in the 
consciences of men. Thirdly, he was baptized with 
the Holy Spirit, and he knew it. It was to him as 
definite an experience as his conversion. Fourthly, 
he was a man of prayer ; he believed in a divine and 
unfettered God. Fifthly, Mr. Moody believed in 
work, in ceaseless effort, in wise provision, in the 
power of organization, of publicity. 



212 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

"I like to think of D, L. Moody in heaven. I 
like to think of him with his Lord and with Elijah, 
Daniel, Paul, August, Luther, Wesley and Finney. 

"Farewell for a little time, great heart; may a 
double portion of the Spirit be vouchsafed to us who 
remain. ' ' 

The next address was by the Rev. H. B. Weston, 
of Crozier Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa., who 
said: 

"I counted it among one of the greatest pleasures 
of my life that I had the acquaintance of Mr. 
Moody : that I was placed under his influence and 
that I was permitted to study God's words and work 
through him. 

"He was the greatest religious character of this 
century. When we see men who are eminent 
among their fellows, we always attribute it to some 
special natural gift with which they are endowed, 
some special education they have received, or some 
magnetic personality with which they are blessed. 
Mr. Moody had none of these, and yet no man had 
such power of drawing the multitude. No man 
could surpass him in teaching and influencing indi- 
viduals — individuals of brain, of executive power. 
I am speaking to some of such this afternoon. Mr. 
Moody had the power of grouping them to himself 
with hooks of steel, and many of them were good 
workers with him many years ; and they will carry 
on his work now that he has passed away. 

"Mr. Moody had none of the gifts and qualifica- 
tions that I have mentioned. No promise, and 
apparently no possibility in his early life, no early 
promise, if he had any promise, of the life he had 
to lead. What had he? There was never anything 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 213 

as interesting in Northfield^ as Mr. Moody to me. I 
listened to him with profound and great interest 
and profit^ as the one who could draw the multitude 
as no one else in the world. He entered fully into 
the words, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
God. ' So he fed upon that word ; his life was in- 
stantly a growth, because he fed on the word of 
God, so that he might have it ready for every emer- 
gency 

"All this was not for himself, but for others. He 
did not study the Bible for himself alone, but that 
he might add to his stock of knowledge. He did 
not study his Bible in order to criticise, but to make 
men partakers of that light which had enlarged his 
own soul, and that, I appeal to you, was the first 
desire of his heart, that other men might live. 

"With this one conception in his heart he dots his 
plain all over with buildings which will stand 
until the millennium. His soul was full of joy, and 
that definite joy finds its expression like the Hebrew 
prophet. I don't think he sung himself, but he 
wanted the gospel sung, and I used to listen to song 
after song and I remember all the time this was 
simply the expression of that joy that welled up in 
his heart, and the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

'You remember last summer how hopeful he 
was, constantly, as he compared himself to 'that old 
man of 80 years, and I am only 62, and I have so 
much before me to live for. ' Because D. L. Moody 
had mastered, or the power of Christ had so mas- 
tered, every fibre of his being ; because of that — well, 
you'll pardon me in saying, I hardly dare say it — 
put Jesus Christ in the same body, the same metal 



214 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

calibre and surroundings, and he would fill up his 
life much 'as Moody did, and that is the reason to- 
day that I would rather be Dwight L. Moody in his 
coffin than any living man on earth. ' ' 

The next speaker was the Rev. R. A. Torrey, who 
said: 

"It is often the first duty of a pastor to speak 
words of comfort to those whose hearts are aching 
with sorrow and breaking underneath the burden 
of death, but this is utterly unnecessary to-day. 
The God of all comfort has already abundantly com- 
forted them, and they will be able to comfort others. 
I have spent hours in the past few days with those 
who were nearest to our departed friend, and the 
words I have heard from them have been words of 
' Rest in God, and triumph. ' 

"As one of them has said: 'God must be answer- 
ing the prayers that are going up for us all over the 
world, we are being so wonderfully sustained,' 
Another has said : 'His last four glorious hours of 
life have taken all the sting out of death,' and still 
another, 'Be sure that every word to-day is a word 
of triumph. ' 

"Two thoughts has God laid upon my heart this 
hour. The first is that wonderful letter of Paul in 
I. Corinthians xv. lo — 'By the grace of God I am 
what I am. ' God wonderfully magnified His grace 
in the life of D. L. Moody. God was magnified in 
his birth. The babe that was born 62 years ago — 
the wonderful soul was God's gift to the world. 
How much that meant to the world ; how much the 
world has been blessed and benefited by it we shall 
never know this side of the coming of Christ. 
God's grace was magnified in his conversion. He 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 215 

was born in sin, as we are, but God by the power of 
His word, the regenerating power of His Holy Spirit, 
made him a mighty man of God. How much the 
conversion of that boy in Boston 43 years ago meant 
to the world no man can tell, but it was all God's 
grace that did it. 

''God's grace and love was magnified again in the 
development of that character. He had the 
strength of body that was possessed by few sons of 
men. 

*'It was all from God. To God alone was it due 
that he differed from other men. That cjiaracter 
was God's gift to a world that sorely needed men 
like him. God's grace and love were magnified 
again in his service. The great secret of his suc- 
cess was supernatural power, given in answer to 
prayer. 

*'Time and time again has the question been asked, 
'What was the secret of his wonderful power?' The 
question is easily answered. There were doubtless 
secondary things that contributed to it, but the 
great central secret of his power was the anointing 
of the Holy Ghost. It was simply another fulfill- 
ment by God of the promise that has been realized 
throughout the centuries of the church's history : 
'Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost 
shall come upon you. ' 

"God was magnified again in his marvelous tri- 
umph over death, but what we call death had abso- 
lutely no terrors for him. He calmly looked death 
in the face, and said, 'Earth is receding. Heaven 
is opening. God is calling me.' Is this death? It 
isn't bad at all. It is sweet. No pain. No valley. 
' I have been within the gates. ' It 'is beautiful. It 



216 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

is glorious. 'Do not call me back. God is calling 
me.' 

"This was God's grace in Christ that was thtis 
magnified in our brother's triumph over that last 
enemy, death. From beginning to end, from the 
hour of his birth until he is laid at rest on yonder 
hilltop, Mr. Moody's life has. been a promulgation 
of God's everlasting grace and love. 

"The other thought that God has laid upon my 
heart in these last few hours are those of Joshua i. 2 
— 'Moses My servant is dead. Now, therefore 
arise, go* over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, 
unto the land which I do give to them. * 

"The death of Mr. Moody is a call to his children, 
his associates, ministers of the Word, everywhere 
and to the whole church : 'Go forward. ' Our leader 
has fallen. Let us give up the work, some would 
say. Not for a moment. Listen to what God says: 
'Our leader has fallen. Move forward. Moses My 
servant is dead, therefore arise, go in and possess 
the land. As I was with D. L. Moody, so I will be 
with you. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. ' 

' It is remarkable how- unanimous all those who 
have been associated with Mr Moody are upon this 
point. The great institutions that he has estab- 
lished at Northfield, Mt. Hermon, Chicago, and the 
v7ork they represent must be pushed to the front as 
never before. Many men are looking for a great 
revivial. 

"Mr. Moody himself said when he felt the call of 
death at Kansas City: 'I know how much better it 
would be for me to go, but we are on the verge of a 
great revival, like that of 1857, and I want to have 
a hand in it. ' He will have a mighty hand in it. 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 217 

His death, with the triumphal scenes that surround 
it, are part of God's way of answering the prayers 
that have been going up for so long in our land for 
a revival. 

**From this bier there goes up to-day a call to the 
ministry, to the church: 'Forward.' Seek, claim, 
receive the anointing of the Holy Ghost, and then 
go, forthwith, to every corner, preach in public and 
in private to every man, woman and child the infal- 
lible word of God." 

After Mr. Torrey had finished, Bishop Mallalieu 
said: 

"Servant of God, well done. Thy glorious war- 
fare passed, battles fought, the race is over, and 
thou art crowned at last. 

•'I first met and became acquainted with him 
whose death we mourn, in London, in the summer 
of 1875. From that day, when he moved the 
masses of the world's metropolis, to the hour when 
he answered the call of God to come up higher, I 
have known him, esteemed him, and loved him. 
Surely we may say, and the world will indorse the 
afiirmation, that in his death one of the truest, 
bravest, purest, and most influential men of this 
wonderful nineteenth century has passed to his rest 
and his reward. 

"With feelings of unspeakable loss and absolute 
regret we gather about the casket that contains all 
that is mortal of Dwight L. Moody, and yet a 
mighty uplift must come to each one of us as we 
think of what his character and achievements were. 
He was one who never turned his back, but breasted 
forward, never doubting the clouds would break, 
never dreaming that, though right was worsted, 
wrong would triumph. 



218 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

"In bone and brawn and brain he was a typical 
New Englander. He was descended from the 
choicest New England stock. He was born of a 
New England mother, and from his earliest life he 
breathed the free air of his native hills, and was 
carefully nurtured in the knowledge of God. It was 
to be expected of him that he would become a Chris 
tian of pronounced characteristics, for he consecrated 
himself thorotighly, completely, and irrevocably to 
the service of God and humanity. 

"The heart of no disciple of the Master ever 
breathed with more genuine, sympathetic and 
utterly unselfish loyalty than did the great, gener- 
ous, loving heart of our translated friend, because 
he held fast to the absolute truth of the Bible, and 
unequivocally and intensely believed it to be the 
inherent word of God ; because he preached the gos- 
pel, rather than talked about the gospel ; because 
he used his mother tongue, the terse, clear-ringing, 
straightforward Saxon; because he had the pro- 
foundest sense of brotherhood with all poor unfor- 
tunate and every outcast people; because he was 
unaffectedly tender and patient with the weak and 
the sinful ; because he hated evil as thoroughly as 
he loved goodness ; because he knew mightily how to 
lead a penitent soul to the Saviour ; because he had 
the happy art of arousing Christian people to a vivid 
sense of their obligations and inciting them to the 
performance of their duties; because he had in his 
own soul a conscious, joyous experience of personal 
salvation. 

"The people flocked to his services, they greeted 
him gladly, they were led to Christ, and he came to 
be honored and prized by all denominations, so that 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 219 

to-day all Protestantism recognizes the fact that he 
was God's servant, an ambassador of Christ, and 
indeed a chosen vessel to bear the name of Jesus to 
the nations. 

"We shall not again behold his manly form, ani- 
mated with life; hear his thrilling voice, or be 
moved by his consecrated personality ; but if we are 
true and faithful to our Lord we shall see him in 
glory, for already he walks the streets of the heav- 
enly city, and mingles in the songs of the innumer- 
able company of white-robed saints, seeing the King 
in his beauty and awaiting our coming. May God 
grant that in due time we may meet him over 
Jordan." 

J. Wilbur Chapman, of New York, the next 
speaker, said: 

"I cannot bring myself to feel this afternoon that 
this service is a reality. It seems to me that we 
must awake from some dream and see again the 
face of this dear man of God, which we have so 
many times seen. It is a new picture to me this 
afternoon. I never saw Mr. Moody with his eyes 
closed. They were always open, and it seemed 
to me open not only to see where he could help 
others, but where he could help me. His hands 
were always outstretched to help others. I never 
came near him without his helping me. 

(At this point the sun came in through a crack in 
a blind, and the rays fell directly on Mr. Moody's 
face, and nowhere else in the darkened church did 
a single beam of sunshine fall.) 

''The only thing that seems natural is the sun- 
light now on his face. There was always a halo 
around him. I can only give a slight tribute of the 



220 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

help he has done me, I can only especially dedicate 
myself to God, that I, with others, can preach the 
gospel he taught. 

*'When a student in college, Mr. Moody found me. 
I had no object in Christ. He pointed me to the 
hope in God ; he saw my heart, and I saw his Savior. 
I have had a definite life since then. When perplex- 
ities have arisen, from those lips came the words, 
'Who are you doubting? If you believe in God's 
word, who are you doubting?' I was a pastor, a 
preacher, without much result. One day Mr. Moody 
came to me, and, with one hand on my shoulder and 
the other on the open Word of God, he said : 'Young 
man, you had better get more of this into your life,' 
and when I became an evangelist myself, in per- 
plexity, I would still sit at his feet and every per- 
plexity would vanish just as mist before the rising 
sun. And, indeed, I never came without the desire 
to be a better man, and be more like him, as he was 
like Jesus Christ. He was the dearest friend I have 
had. If my own father were lying in the coffin I 
could not feel more the sense of loss. 

The Rev. A. T. Pierson spoke next, saying: 

"When a great tree falls, you know, not only by 
its branches, but by its roots, how much soil it drew 
up as it fell. I know of no other man who has 
fallen in this century having as wide a tract of 
uprooting as this man who has just left us. 

"I have been thinking of the four departures dur- 
ing the last quarter of a century, of Charles Spur- 
geon of London, A. J. Gordon of Boston, Catherine 
Booth, mother of the Salvation Army, and George 
Muller of Bristol, England, and not one made the 
worldwide commotion in their departure that Dwight 
Moody has caused. 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 221 

"Now, I think we ought to be very careful of 
what is said. There is a temptation to say more 
than ought to be said, and we should be careful to 
speak as in the presence of God. This is a time to 
glorify God. 

"Dwight L. Moody was a great man; that man, 
when he entered the church, in 1856, in Boston, 
after ten months of probation, was told by his pastor 
that he was not a sound believer. That pastor, 
taking him aside, told him he had better keep still 
in prayer meeting. The man the church held out 
at arm's length has become the preacher of preach- 
ers, the teacher of teachers, the evangelist of evan- 
gelists. It is a most humiliating lesson for the 
church of God. 

*'When, in 1858, he decided to give all his time, 
he gave the key to his future. I say everything 
D. L. Moody has touched has been a success. Do 
you know that with careful reckoning he has reached 
100,000,000 of people since he first became a Chris- 
tian? You may take all the years of public services 
in this land and Great Britain, take into considera- 
tion all the addresses he delivered, and all the audi- 
ences of his churches, and it will reach 100,000,000. 
Take into consideration all the people his books 
have reached and the languages into which they 
have been translated, look beyond his evangelistic 
work to the work of education, the schools, the 
Chicago Bible Institute, and the Bible Institute 
here. Scores of people in the world owe their exist- 
ence to Dwight L. Moody as a means of their con- 
secration. 

"I want to say a word of Mr. Moody's entrance 
into heaven. When he entered into heaven there 



222 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

must have been an unustial commotion. I want to 
ask you to-day whether you can think of any other 
man of the last half-century whose coming so many 
souls would have welcomed at the gates of heaven. 
It was a triumphal entrance into glory. 

'*No man who has been associated with him in 
Christian work has not seen that there is but one 
way to live, and that way to live wholly for God. 
The thing that D. L. Moody stood for and will 
stand for for centuries to come was his living only for 
God. He made mistakes, no doubt, but if any of us 
is without sin in this respect, we might raise a stone 
at him, but I am satisfied that the mistakes of D. 
L. Moody were the mistakes of a stream that over- 
flowed its banks. It is a great deal better to be full 
and overflowing than to be empty and have nothing 
to overflow. 

"I feel myself called to-day by the presence of 
God to give the eye that is left to me more wholly 
to him. Mr. Moody, John Wanamaker, James 
Spurgeon (brother of Charles), and myself were 
born in the same year. Only two of us are still 
alive. John Wanamaker, let us still live wholly for 
God." 

Mr. H. M. Wharton of Baltimore, spoke in behalf 
of the Southern States. He said: 

"I am sure, dear friends, that if the people of the 
South could express their feeling to-day they would 
ask me to say we all loved Mr. Moody ; we did love 
him, with all our hearts. It seems to me that when 
he went inside the gates of heaven he left the gates 
open a little, and a little of the light fell upon us 
all. 

"As I go from this place to-day I am more con- 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 223 

vinced that I desire to live and be a more faithful 
minister and more earnest Christian, and more con- 
secrated in my life. We will not say 'Good night, 
dear Mr. Moody, ' for in the morning we will meet 
again. ' ' 

As Mr. Wharton ceased, Mr. Will Moody rose in 
the pew, and said he would like to speak of his 
father as a parent. He said: 

"As a son I want to say a few words of him as a 
father. We have heard from his pastor, his associ- 
ates and friends, and he was just as true a father. I 
don't think he showed up in any way better than 
when, on one or two occasions, in dealing with us 
as children, with his impulsive nature he spoke 
rather sharply. We have known him to come to us 
and say: 'My children, my son, my daughter, I 
spoke quickly ; I did wrong. I want you to forgive 
me. ' That was D. L. Moody as a father. 

"He was not yearning to go; he loved his work. 
Life was very attractive; it seems as though on 
that early morning as he had one foot upon the 
threshold, it was given him for our sake to give us a 
word of comfort. He said : 'This is bliss ; it is like 
a trance. If this is death, it is beautiful. ' And his 
face lighted up as he mentioned those whom he 
saw. 

"We could not call him back; we tried to for a 
moment, but we could not. We thank God for his 
home life, for his true life, and we thank God that 
he was our father, and that he led each one of his 
children to know Jesus Christ." 

Dr. Schofield then called upon the Hon. John 
Wanamaker of Philadelphia, who said: 

"If I had any words to say it would be that the 



224 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

best commentary on the Scriptures, the best pictures 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, were in our knowledge of 
the beautiful man who is sleeping in our presence 
to-day. For the first time I can understand better 
the kind of a man Paul was, and Nehemiah, and 
Oliver Cromwell. I think of Mr. Moody as a Stone- 
wall Jackson of the Church of God of this century. 
But the sweetest of all thoughts of him are his 
prayers and his kindnesses. It was as if we were all 
taken into his family and he had a familiarity with 
every one and we were his closest friends. 

" It is not alone in Northfield these buildings will 
stand, but over a hundred million buildings that 
owe their standing to his efforts, Christian associa- 
tions and churches that are erected for use both 
Sundays and week days. There is not any place in 
this country that you can go without seeing the work 
of this man of God. It seems to make every man 
seem small because he lived so far above us, as we 
crept close to his feet. It is true of every one who 
sought to be like him. 

"I can run back into the beginning of his manhood 
and there have the privilege of being close to him. 
I can call up personal friends that were at the 
head of railroads, that were distinguished in finance 
and business, and I declare to you, great as their 
successes were, I don't believe that there is ane of 
them who would not gladly have changed places 
with D. L. Moody. 

"The Christian laborer I believe to-day looms up 
more luminous than any man who lived in the cen- 
tury. It seems as if it were a vision when the one 
who has passed away stood in Philadelphia last 
month, when on his way to Kansas City, and, with 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 227 

tears in his eyes, he said to me with a sigh: 'If I 
could only hold one great city in the East before I 
die, I think it might help other cities to do the same. ' 
Still trusting God, he turned his back on his home 
and family and went a thousand miles carrying that 
burden, and it was too much for him. A great 
many of the people of the sixties are quitting work, 
and if anything is to be done for God it is time we 
consecrate ourselves to him." 

The service closed with the singing by the male 
quartet of "Blessed Hope of the Coming of the 
Lord." The music for this selection was recently 
arranged by Mrs. William R. Moody. Those in the 
church immediately left the building and the casket 
was closed. 

At 4:40 the casket was taken outside and the cor- 
tege started for Round Top. The Rev. Messrs. 
Schofield and Torrey were first, followed by the 
bier, escorted by thirty-two Mt. Hermon students. 
Then came the honorary pallbearers, and Ira D. 
Sankey, George Stebbins, Dr. Wood, Col. Janeway 
of New Brunswick, N. J. , C. A. Hopkins of Boston, 
H. M. Moore of Boston, Gen. J. J. Estey of Brattle- 
boro, R. C. Morse of the international committee, 
many ministers and friends, and then the carriages 
containing the family and mourners. 

At the grave all sang "Jesus Lover of My Soul." 
Dr. Torrey offered prayer, and Dr. Schofield pro- 
nounced the benediction. After the people had 
left the grave the casket was opened, and the family 
took a last look at Mr. Moody. 

The following tribute and analysis of his char- 
acter and work appeared in "The Independent" of 
December 28, 1899: 

13 



228 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

Succeeding generations call out each its own 
great evangelist. For the generation that is past 
that man was Dwight L. Moody. 

Mr. Moody was an example of the broadening 
educational power of earnest religion, for that was 
about all the education he had. But nature had 
endowed him with a sound mind and great com- 
mon sense. All his schooling was a few years in a 
district school; and forty- four years ago, like so 
many other boys, he quitted the farm at North- 
field at the age of seventeen to seek his fortune in 
Boston. To assume the obligations of Christian 
life and to join the Mount Hermon Congregational 
Church was to him a speedy pleasure and duty, and 
it was his conviction that this meant a life of doing 
and not of receiving good. From Boston the boy 
went to Chicago, and immediately threw himself 
into Christian work. At first it was thought that 
he was too ignorant, too ill-trained to teach in the 
Sunday-school or take part in prayer meetings; but 
he brought in his own ragged scholars, and by the 
time he was twenty-three he was running a mission 
with sixty teachers and one thousand pupils in the 
Sunday-school, and had found it his duty to give 
himself wholly to religious work. 

Mr. Moody was two men; an evangelist and an 
organizer. He was the best known, the most 
impressive and simpl}'' eloquent of all our evangel- 
ists. Millions have flocked to hear him speak. The 
month before he died he was listened to by audi- 
ences of ten and fifteen thousand. His influence 
has been immense in Great Britain and in this 
country. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands have 
been converted in his meetings. He was simple, 



i 



thb: last farewell. 229 

unaffected, direct, idiomatic, full of story and 
equally of epigram, but always in deep earnest. 
Those who heard knew that they were listening to 
a great earnest soul, one who believed with inten- 
sity in what he said, who felt he had the Lord's 
commission. He educated a school of evangelists, 
men of great ability and great success, but they all 
looked up to him as their leader. They were men 
of collegiate and theological education ; all he had 
learned was from reading his Bible. But such a 
Bible as his was! It was margined all over with 
the notes of his study and the substance of his 
addresses. That was one Dwight L. Moody. 

The other Moody was the organizer. He was the 
builder of churches and Christian Association halls 
and the founder of schools. He had the gift of 
finding men of wealth that would support his work, 
and a great institution has risen up in Chicago as 
the fruit of his labor, while Northfield has become 
famous as his birthplace and the seat of the North- 
field Seminary for girls and the Mount Hermon 
Academy for boys and the Bible Training School for 
the instruction of Sunday-school teachers and relig- 
ious workers. The work of the evangelist fades from 
sight as men die, and the impulses they have gained 
pass into the life of other men ; but the institution 
lives, and in the generations to come Mr. Moody 
will be known as the founder of flourishing Christian 
schools that rest upon the Bible, and whose great 
purpose is to develop the evangelistic spirit in those 
who attend. 

We have said that a chief characteristic of Mr. 
Moody was his strong common sense. As a plain 
student of a plain Bible, no scholar in history or 



230 THE LAST FAREWELL. 

criticism, he was of course a conservative. As a 
literalist he was naturally led into Premillena- 
rianism, and many of the speakers at his summer 
Bible conferences at Northfield were chosen from 
those who believed with him. But he would never 
allow this to be made a fad. Just so the Keswick 
school of- believers, with which he sympathized, 
could never make him their mouthpiece. He 
would give their better men place with gladness, 
but he understood what was the breadth of Christian 
life and faith, and there was no bitterness in his 
soul for those who held a more liberal faith than 
he. What he wanted was Christian life, and, 
above all. Christian service. The man that would 
preach the Gospel and bring souls to Christ was 
the man he wanted and in whom he believed. His 
heart was too large, his purposes too grand to be 
confined in narrower limits than those of the Church 
of Christ. For denominations he cared nothing; 
for Christianity he would give up his life. Every 
one believed in him, no matter of what faith or 
unfaith; all knew that Dwight L. Moody was an 
honest, sincere, devoted Christian. 

Mr. Moody's great evangelistic successes have not 
been during the past ten years. He has had great 
meetings, but those who attended were mainly 
church members. It would seem as if, for the 
present at least, the era of revivals was waning. 
Perhaps Mr. Moody himself saw this, and gave 
himself with the greater zeal to Christian education, 
for the better Christianity and the better hope of 
the Church is found rather in the education of the 
young than in the conversion of the old. It will 
be a blessed time for the Church when revivals are 



THE LAST FAREWELL. 231 

no longer needed, when children are taught and 
expected to take upon themselves the obligations 
of Christian life, not in the way of a formal con- 
firmation at a given age, but with a serious and 
settled purpose to be followers of our Lord. This 
is what is meant by the developing work of the 
Sunday-school and especially of our various Chris- 
tian Endeavor societies. When such influences as 
they foster in the Church pervade the community 
there will be no longer need for the first Mr. Moody, 
only for the work of the other Moody, who under- 
stood the coming age and the essential importance 
of Christian education. 

Mr. Moody's life teaches us that, while the Church 
needs scholars, what she needs most of all is the 
impulse of Christian devotion, that force which 
compelled St. Paul, and has compelled a thousand 
others in all branches of the Church on whom was 
laid the burden of a lost world, and who have said, 
"Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel." Mr. 
Moody's life was well filled out with work nobly 
accomplished, and his death was the fit end of a 
life of faith and service. His memory is one of 
the treasures of the Christian Church. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



EULOGY. 



In connection with the passing of the world's great 
evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, many instances of his 
great labors are brought to mind. The kingdom of 
heaven receives into its membership many who are 
humble in life, of limited faculties, but it also has 
a place for men destined to take their places in 
the world's history. To this class belonged Mr. 
Moody, 

Moody was a product of the Christian church. 
That he was incidentally a product of the Congre- 
gational church is of little moment. It is, however, 
a significant fact that he was a product of the 
Christian church. 

The story is told of a young man who left a 
country home to enter a wholesale shoe house in 
New York city. Every Sabbath morning he was 
seen in the balcony of the church, over which Dr. 
Kirk was at that time pastor. His head was often 
times bowed in sleep when the sermon closed, but 
one day he awoke in time to hear the closing words. 
"For His sake. Amen." He went away thinking, 
and as a result of that thought the world had 
Dwight L. Moody, whose earthly ministry closed 
last Friday. He was a product of the Christian 
232 



EULOGY. 233 

church and the finest example of the possibilities of 
consecrated labor. 

If "minister" means "a man set apart," if it 
means one who has passed through some educa- 
tional institution, then Moody was not a minister. 
But if you go back to the first use by the church of 
the word then you will find that he was a minister. 

His services stirred both worlds. Across the 
water he shook the church into a new life, and in 
this country his work resulted in the redemption of 
myriad souls. We are told that as the result of his 
consecrated labors we have had the greatest Chris- 
tian work this world has ever seen. Compare him 
with the greatest pulpit orators, men prominent in 
all denominations, and Dwight L. Moody towers a 
little above them all. 

What was the secret of his power? In the first 
place, Moody was a most profoundly educated man. 
He was never in a college, never entered the halls 
of a divinity school, never even had an academy 
education, yet he was an educated man. He had 
the power to think upon large themes and he was a 
student of the Bible. The man who will study this 
book forty years will become an educated man. I 
would not under-estimate the learning of schools. 
Go to school, go to college just as much as you can, 
but let me remind you if you are studying this book 
you are getting a university education. 

Mr. Moody was a man of splendid poise. An 
evangelist necessarily has a tendency toward undue 
emotionalism; to attract the public by working 
upon their emotions. Moody balanced the emo- 
tional side by the educational side, in establishing 
the schools at Northfield. 



234 EULOGY. 

Evangelists are apt to go to extremes, to have 
some peculiar hobby, some different doctrine. 
Moody was surrounded by a lot of religious cranks, 
men who held peculiar views in abnormal propor- 
tions. Through it all he never lost his poise. 

Another temptation of the evangelist is narrow- 
ness. Into his life comes unconsciously this spirit 
of narrowness. Yet Dwight L. Moody was as broad 
a man as the country held. George Adams Smith, 
the great liberal thinker of Scotland, was invited 
by Mr. Moody to speak at Northfield. At once a 
great hue and cry arose and some of the leading 
evangelists of the country went to him and pro- 
tested. Moody took time to pray over the matter 
and finally decided that Smith should come. Moody's 
broadness was based on character. 

He was a man who depended utterly on God. 
When asked when he was born he answered: "I 
was born in the flesh in 1837, but I was born in the 
spirit in 1851." 

Moody never had that smirk of boundless self 
conceit. He once said: "I am thoroughly tired 
of the man who is so good he can save himself. ' ' 

Nobody knows how much money Moody collected, 
but he gathered an immense amount. It has been 
estimated as high as $10,000,000. He had a chance 
to be a wealthy man, yet he died poor. He lived 
what he preached. He called upon men to sacri- 
fice, to live the life that Jesus lived. 

Out in the little white farm house in the Berk- 
shire hills, amid all the beauty and grandeur of 
nature his life fluttered out and the angels came 
and took his soul to the heaven above. That was 



EULOGY. 235 

the end of Dwight L. Moody. — Rev. R. W. Mc- 
Laughlin, Kalamazoo, Mich. 

We are accustomed to think of Paul as great, 
and so he was. I venture to believe that there are 
tens of hundreds all around us that are easily his 
equals — men, therefore, that would be just as 
mighty in their apostleship if they had the same 
measure of God's spirit upon them, had allowed 
themselves to be made as divine as he — men who 
would be able to give an equal impulse to the pro- 
gress of Christian civilization. 

The world has lost very much such a man in the 
person of Mr. Moody. We hear a good deal said at 
present about his exceptional tact, and about his 
phenomenal good sense and other striking features 
that are supposed to have been part of his original 
endowment. As for his native abilities, the story, 
I believe, still remains uncontradicted that when he 
first applied for church membership it was proposed 
to receive him on probation simply, as he appeared 
insufficiently intelligent to appreciate the meaning 
of the step he was taking. — Rev. Dr. Charles H. 
Parkhurst, New York. 



The death of Mr. Moody attracts the attention of 
the Christian world. Though not an old man, his 
vast influence for good had continued for half a 
century, reaching into every English-speaking 
country. 

To have seen and heard a really great man for a 

single time is a permanent gain to every young 

person ; and such opportunity should be sought at 

the cost of trouble and expense if need be. 

It was my good fortune to have been somewhat 
14 



236 EULOGY. 

familiar with Mr. Moody's work during his earlier 
years. Most young and middle-aged people now 
think of Mr. Moody as an evangelist only, as that 
work has, during the past twenty-five or thirty years, 
largely overshadowed his earlier efforts. His prior 
activities that attracted attention were in the Sun- 
day-schools and Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tions. Little is now said of these, but I am not 
sure that they were not more far-reaching in results 
than even his noted evangelistic work in later years. 
They set in motion a new set of workers and new 
methods, the results from which are now difficult to 
fully appreciate. When Mr. Moody first went to 
Chicago, Sunday-schools were largely composed of 
children of church-going people, conducted in a 
formal manner not especially inviting to children. 
There had not been much of the "going out into the 
byways and hedges and compelling the wayward to 
come in, "done at that time. His great Sunday- 
school, gathered almost exclusively from the worst 
city element, including young and old, attracted 
attention the country over. Then followed great 
gatherings of children from the churchless classes, 
like that at Akron, Ohio, built up by the late great 
manufacturer, Lewis Miller, so long the president 
of the Chautauqua Assembly, and in Philadelphia 
by John Wanamaker, the noted merchant and recent 
Postmaster-General, and others of national renown, 
manned by the best lay talent from every calling. 
The evangelical modern mission Sunday-schools, if 
not commencing with, was given a wonderful for- 
warding impetus by Mr. Moody's early work. For 
years he was the leading and inspiring spirit in the 
great Sunday-school assemblages of the land. 



EULOGY. 237 

His vivifying influence on the few Y. M. C. A. 
Associations then struggling along under the preju- 
dices of conservative churches and many good men, 
was even more marked. His desire to help young 
men living sinful lives seemed unbounded. He had 
been there himself. I have often heard him give his 
experiences before conversion, speaking of himself 
as a "miserable wharf rat on the docks of Bos- 
ton. ' ' He seemed confident that every young man in 
like condition could be reached and reclaimed if 
Christians cared to make the effort. He developed 
a wonderful faculty of doing this himself and inspir- 
ing others to attempt it. He found the Y. M. C. A. 
the most efficient means for accomplishing the de- 
sired object. Under his influence the organization 
in Chicago became a great power. He had a faculty 
of getting moneyed persons interested in his projects. 
Such men as Marshall Field supported his work lib- 
erally, not only with their money, but by their influ- 
ence as prominent business men. His efficiency in 
organizing these associations was soon recognized, 
and he was in demand all over the country. He 
was the life and directing power in all their great 
meetings. As representative of one of the more 
active associations in Ohio, I had opportunity to 
note his seemingly unconscious leadership during 
several years, in both state and national conven- 
tions, which aroused great admiration for the man. 
When I first commenced hearing him, he was but 
an indifferent speaker, so far as ordinary eloquence 
goes; but his earnestness was so transparently 
genuine that he was always listened to by all classes 
with great interest. The entire absence of any 
semblance to cant, his good sense and evident hon- 



238 EULOGY. 

esty of purpose were conspicuous in all his addresses. 

His tact in managing difficult or delicate business 
never failed him. I remember what promised to be 
a most painful incident at an international conven- 
tion being held in Portland, Me. It was at a morning 
business session, but the great hall was crowded. 
Delegates were present from nearly ever state, and 
several from England and Canada. Discussing 
some matters that brought opinions sharply differ- 
ing, unguarded, harsh words from some of the hot- 
headed delegates threatened a disgraceful scene. 
Mr. Moody quickly and without occasioning any 
dissent, secured immediate adjournment, and called 
a prayer meeting for delegates only in a smaller 
room. It was soon filled, and the meeting opened, 
as I now remember it, with one of the most impress- 
ive prayers I have ever heard. Men who a few 
moments before faced each other with sullen looks 
and angry words followed in the service, and at the 
next session, the unfortunate business was disposed 
of in the best of feeling. 

His eloquence and power as a speaker improved 
rapidly, and the desire to hear him was remarkable. 
At the state and national meetings of the Y. M. C. 
A. whenever he was announced for an address, 
however large the hall, provision was always made 
for one or two overflow meetings. It mattered not 
how distinguished speakers were provided, for these 
supplemental audiences, they always insisted on re- 
maining till Mr. Moody appeared and spoke to them, 
after the principal meeting adjourned. 

He spoke without notes, and v/ith such readiness 
and ease that the common notion was that he neither 
made nor needed any special preparation. I had 



EULOGY. 239 

occasion to know that at least at that time this was 
a mistake. Whatever the character of the audience 
he expected to meet, he made the most careful and 
laborious preparation time would allow. 

Personally, he was a plain, cheerful, easily- 
approached, kindly-hearted man. Though commen- 
cing without position or special training, he did well 
an important part of the world's most important 
work of the last half of the nineteenth century.-— 
J. H. Reed, Riverside, Cal. 



A great man has fallen — not a great scholar or 
thinker ; not a great writer or theologian — but still 
a great man. Mr. Moody was great in his influence 
over men ; great in the work he accomplished ; great 
in that power which lives and shapes other lives 
which come after. He has made his mark upon the 
nineteenth century as but few men have done. His 
influence in all directions has been healthy, pure 
and always on the right side. The effect of his 
preaching upon preachers has been inspiring and 
helpful There were those who criticised him, but 
when his critics heard his glowing words, so full of 
the divine love, they could but acknowledge his 
sincerity and also his power. There are some les- 
sons which the Christian churches should learn 
from the life work of Mr. Moody. 

He has shown what a layman without great learn- 
ing can do to advance Christianity. Mr. Moody 
had great administrative ability. He might have 
become a C. P. Huntington or a John Wanamaker 
in the business world. He chose to use his ability 
in doing God's work directly. In work for young 
men, in founding schools where those without money 



240 EULOGY. 

could secure an education, and in training workers 
for Christian service he has accomplished much. 

He has made the fact plain that the gospel of 
Christ, preached simply and earnestly, will com- 
mand a hearing and will transform the lives of those 
who accept it. He did not defend Christianity; he 
preached it. He did not prop up the cross of Christ 
lest it should fall ; he pointed men to it and to Him 
who died upon it. With absolute faith in the teach- 
ings of the Bible, it was his mission to present a 
living Savior to dying men. He believed that in 
preaching there should be less art and more heart. 
Mr. Moody was a man of tender heart and of great 
faith in God, and these gave him great power with 

men. 

"Servant of God, well done. 
Rest from thy loved employ ; 
The battle fought, the victory won, 
Enter thy Master's joy." 

— Rev. E. A. Woods, First Baptist Church, San 
Francisco, Cal. 

When death comes, as a rule, it is like an arrow 
passing through the air, which soon closes upon it, 
and all is tranquil again. But when such a great 
life and ornament of the church as the late Mr. 
Moody was, is quenched, such an event somewhat 
resembles the apocalyptic vial poured into that 
element named and which changed its temperature 
and produced fearful commotions. 

Well do I remember how his visits to England 
were looked for by the churches with prayerful ex- 
pectancy, and how his ministrations there stirred 
up the religious life of the whole country, and re- 
sulted in a glorious spiritual harvest. I shall never 
forget the pleasure it gave me while living in South 
Africa, when I read the reports of the wonderful 



EULOGY. 241 

work which the Lord was doing through His honored 
servant in this country. Often was my soul 
refreshed in the midst of the depressing influences 
of an African life, when I read some of his sweet 
evangelical utterances. He was a great personality, 
and a mighty religious force. His labors created 
an epoch in church life. There was but one Mr. 
Moody, though there are hosts of feeble imitators ; 
as in England there was but one Mr. Spurgeon, 
though there were manj^ who aped him. 

No one can estimate the amount of good that was 
accomplished by that one man, whose death is sin- 
cerely mourned by English-speaking people to-day, 
throughout the world. He was no fiery recluse 
trying to preach the people into a new crusade; 
but like a mild and earnest seer, while he moved 
about among the people, he bore about with him a 
reverent consciousness that he dealt with the 
majesty of man, and by the magnetic force of spir- 
itual life, drew around him all grades and condi- 
tions of human life, which he directed with mar- 
velous power and clearness of thought and simplicity 
of language, to the only refuge for guilty men. 

Thank God for the life and labors of Mr. Moody. 
— Rev. James Hughes, Scranton, Pa. 



I was converted through Mr. Moody's preaching, 
fourteen years ago, at Chicago. He was preaching 
at the Chicago Avenue Church, known as "Moody's 
church." I was an infidel prior to hearing Mr. 
Moody, and used to swear by Bob Ingersoll, who 
was my patron saint. I dropped in on Mr. Moody 
one evening, just out of curiosity, knowing that he 
was preaching at this church. It was the first time 



242 EULOGY. 

I had heard him, and I was impressed from the 
start. I went there to study the speaker and the 
philosophy of what he said, as I always did when I 
heard an evangelist. That night he preached the 
first sermon on "The Love of God" that I had ever 
heard — and I was forty-four years old. The thing 
that took hold of me was the man's intense earnest- 
ness. His subject was "The Prodigal Son." He 
dwelt on the wonderful love of a father, and I got 
hungry to learn of that kind of love, and as a result 
of what I heard that night, I went away and was 
converted a few days afterward. 

At that time I was living at Liberty, in this State, 
owned a fine farm and had everything on it that 
comfort required. I immediately sold my farm — 
threw it away, in fact — did not stop to get a bargain 
out of it, and went to preaching. 

I got out a new book, about a month ago, on the 
Lord's Prayer, which I have dedicated to Mr. 
Moody. — Mr. Brown, Editor Ram's Horn. 



What are the secrets of Mr. Moody's power and 
success? I answer: First, an overwhelming passion 
to serve Jesus Christ and redeem human souls. 
Second his teachableness. While a preacher and 
teacher, he was always in the attitude of a learner. 
Third, modesty and humility. He shrank from being 
the subject of flattery or even commendation. Once 
he said: "Strike me rather than praise me." 
Fourth, practical common sense. He always fished 
in JJie pools where the fish were. His greatest 
power consisted in his ability successfully to set 
others at work. His commendation of a worker, 
"She sees things to do," applied emphatically to 




Copyright, 1900, by Robt. O. Law. 



THE EMPTY CHAIR. 



Mr. Moody always occupied this Chair in the pulpit at the Chicago Avenue Church 
when preaching thete. 



EULOGY. 245 

Mr. Moody. Fifth, his entire consecration. The 
story of his great yearning and waiting for months 
for the power of the Holy Ghost was one of the most 
fascinating of the confidential communications which 
he made in the Northfield gathering of Christian 
workers. He had power with God, and so had 
power with mankind beyond any other Christian 
leader of his time. 

His death-bed scene was a touching and fitting 
close of his noble life. Knowing he was about to 
depart he gave tender and thoughtful counsel to his 
wife and children with reference to the continuance 
and development of the departments of Christian 
work which he had begun. As he grew weaker, 
and his vital forces ebbed, he suddenly exclaimed 
joyously: "I see earth receding ; heaven is opening; 
God is calling me!" And this vigorous, aggressive, 
successful herald of Christianity was gone from 
earth to heaven. Shall we not yearn more than 
ever before, to so live that we, too, may see the 
earth receding, heaven opening, and hear God call- 
ing us to greater service and reward? — Rev. Dr. 
Howard H. Russell, M. E. Church, Delaware, O. 



While Henry Ward Beecher preached for many 
years to the largest congregation in America (about 
5,000), and Charles Haddon Spurgeon addressed the 
largest in Great Britain (about 6,000), yet Dwight 
Lyman Moody has spoken to a much larger number 
of people in his wandering evangelistic work than 
either of the other distinguished divines, and per- 
haps to a larger number of persons than any other 
speaker of this or any other generation. 

His scholarship and oratorical ability have been 



246 EULOGY. 

questioned, but there can be no doubt that he pos- 
sessed a wonderful and magical power. At his last 
appearance in Los Angeles the capacity of Haz- 
zard's pavilion was not only tested to the utmost, 
bill the doors had to be closed against the throng 
that could not be accommodated. It has been so 
everywhere. The very last sermon he preached 
was listened to by 15,000 people in Kansas City. 

But, while Mr. Moody was not a polished orator, 
he possessed a faculty for condensing the substance 
of doctrines into pointed paragraphs and striking 
apothegms, and was decidedly fertile in apt and 
homely illustrations drawn from the common occur- 
rences of life. He had an inexhaustible fund of an- 
ecdote and personal experience which, being related 
with detailed particularity, seemed very real, but so 
far as their verity was concerned, they often partook 
more of the nature of parable than fact. But the 
great Master has set the precedent, and doubtless 
Mr. Moody felt justified in embellishing the facts 
when he could thus make more effective use of his 
material. 

Mr. Moody held a series of meetings in Boston 
two years ago. Great audiences filled Tremont 
Temple throughout his stay. His methods, intellect- 
ual, spectacular, and musical, were studied to ascer- 
tain the secret of his drawing power. Both secular 
and religious press analyzed and criticised his work. 
While the pews were crowded, cultured Boston lis- 
tened coldly if not cynically. While the people 
appreciated his wit, eloquence, and home thrusts, 
they were unemotional, and at last the preacher be- 
came exasperated, and indulged in some vigorous 
remarks that geemed to have a local flavor, and did 



EULOGY. 247 

have the effect of arousing their slow susceptibil- 
ities. 

After enlarging upon the sins of church members, 
Mr. Moody asked: "Why are your prayer-meet- 
ings so dead that you can hardly breathe in them? 
It is because of those things, my friends. If there 
is a man or woman here who has his property rented 
for anything disreputable, you have got to get out 
of it, or the curse of God will fall upon you. When 
you do a thing of that kind you are sure to have 
trouble in your families — your son or your daughter 
going wrong." At this point, the reporters state, 
there were such obvious signs of dissent or dislike 
in the audience that Mr. Moody was forced to notice 
them. "I dare say," he said, "that this kind of a 
talk throws a coldness over the meeting, but you 
have got to have a little coldness before you get 
warmed up. What we want is the revival of right- 
eousness or nothing. ' ' 

Proceeding, he said: "There is a class of church 
members who labor under the delusion that if they 
are worldly Christians they are going to make the 
most of both worlds. That is a terrible delusion. " 

The following passage is almost Emersonian: 

"Let us have done looking at obstacles; is there 
anything too hard for God? Think of this world. 
Think of the great mountains, its rivers, its inhab- 
itants. Yet it is only a little ball thrown from the 
hand of Jehovah!" 

Speaking of respectable people, and he looked 
straight into the faces of the well-dressed men and 
women in front of him, he exclaimed: "I suppose 
if you had gone to Sodom a week before its destruc- 
tion, they would have told you that Lot was one of 



248 EULOGY. 

the most influential men in the city — perhaps had 
the best turnout, and owned some of the best corner 
lots. A good many men, no doubt, thought that 
Lot was long-headed. You hear a man called long- 
headed and the best business man in Boston — and 
his family is going to ruin. He is long-headed, isn't 
he? The Lord pity him. " 

The Boston Transcript, reviewing the work of the 
evangelist, commented as follows: "The truth is, 
Mr. Moody is an intensely practical man. He 
preaches against sin — not as an abstract thing, but 
as something concrete, here, on the spot. He treats 
Christianity, not as a collection of beautiful aphor- 
isms, but as affording a standard and a rule of every- 
day life. Therefore, it is that Tremont Temple 
hears him coldly." 

Though Mr. Moody did not of late years dwell 
upon the pangs and anguish of the lost, as was his 
wont in the earlier period of his work, when he was 
known as a revivalist rather than as an evangelist, 
yet to the very last he was sturdily orthodox. A 
few months ago he was in Denver, and preached as " 
usual to crowded houses. Vehemently defending 
the church dogmas, he said: "Take atonement: 
I'd leave my Bible right here — wouldn't take it 
home with me if I didn't know it was full of atone- 
ment. Take justification: Martin Luther found 
justification in the Bible, and he roused the world. 
Take the prophecies and follow them out. There 
are two hundred prophecies in the Bible, every one 
of which has been fulfilled or is in the state of be- 
ing fulfilled now. There has never been anything 
done in this world that hasn't been prophesied in 
the Bible." 



EULOGY. 249 

"Christ will take the burden of your care and sor- 
row as well as of your sin. Christ can bear them 
all. A good many people think he takes sin alone. 
Did you ever think how many volumes it would take 
to hold the account of the sorrows of the people 
here? A horse could not haul the record away. 
Every heart here has a sorrow, and many a man 
could get up and tell you a story to make you cry. 

"The fact is God made our hearts too big for this 
world, and you can roll the whole earth into them 
and yet they are empty. This world is too small to 
satisfy our hearts. ' ' 

"One day a young lawyer sought the kingdom of 
God and found it, and when he went home that 
night, he said; 'Wife, I'm going to serve the God 
of heaven. I'm going to confess Jesus Christ, and I 
want to have a family altar, so to-night we'll gather 
all the children and the servants into the dining- 
room and we'll have prayers there.' And the wife 
said: 'Well, that's all right, John, but you are not 
used to praying, and you know we are going to have 
some lawyers to tea to-night, and you might make 
a mistake before them. Hadn't you better wait 
and have a little service in the kitchen after the 
company's gone?" 

" 'No, wife,' said the young man, *this is the first 
time I've asked Christ into my house, and I guess 
I'll take Him into the best room.' 

"And he did it. He got out his Bible and he read 
it, and he got down on his knees and prayed like a 
man, and I tell you that man was a hero." 

Mr. Moody had a wonderful faculty for getting 
money, whether it was a simple collection to meet 
current expenses, or some large subscriptions to 



250 EULOGY. 

carry on the work of his schools at Northfield and 
Chicago. In the early part of 1898 he sent notice 
that his schools needed money, and before his per- 
sonal appeals were all distributed, he received a do- 
nation of $100,000 from a single person whose name 
was withheld. In an address delivered in one of 
the educational halls, he alluded to a neighboring 
hill as "Temptation Point." When, after the ad- 
dress, he was asked why he called the hill by that 
name, "Oh, " he replied, "I thought some one might 
be tempted to erect a chapel for us on that point. ' ' 
The hint' was taken, and the chapel was built. 

It is a fact, however, and cannot be denied, that 
Mr. Moody sometimes showed a partiality for cap- 
italists — when they responded liberally to his de- 
mands for funds. A large donation seemed to offset 
a multitude of imperfections in a donor's life and 
character. And having come into personal contact 
with some of the great millionaires, and having 
been treated with genial courtesy by them, he not 
only hesitated to criticise their questionable busi- 
ness methods, but has been known to go out of his 
way to apologize for them and their unsavory trans- 
actions. Yet this statement is not made to detract 
ungenerously from the fame of the great preacher. 
It simply shows that he, like all the rest of us, had 
a great deal of human nature. 

Mr. Moody was president of "The Bible Institute 
for Home and Foreign Missions of the Chicago 
Evangelization Society. ' ' From that headquarters 
he wrote the following characterstic fund-soliciting 
letter to a friend in California. This letter is in the 
possession of the writer, and is dated September 15, 
1893, the year of the Chicago World's Fair: 



EULOGY. 251 

"For several months I have been in Chicago con- 
ducting a World's Fair evangelistic campaign. The 
work has had God's richest blessing and has gone 
far beyond my expectation. 

"Some of the most prominent ministers, evangel- 
ists and workers in the world are assisting me in 
this work. During the time remaining in Septem- 
ber and October, I desire to push the battle to the 
gates. I want to make a personal appeal to your 
young people to assist me. 

"The cost of hiring halls, theatres, advertising, 
etc., is very large, and, on account of the hard 
times, it is difficult to get money from the ordinary 
sources. Will you please see what the young peo- 
ple in your organization can do by personal collec- 
tion, or personal subscriptions, and send to us as 
soon as possible? 

"The need is great and the opportunity one of a 
lifetime — to spread the gospel to the corners of the 
earth. ' ' 

We may be sure this appeal was not in vain. As 
a matter of fact, this and like appeals sent to other 
localities were responded to with surprising liberal- 
ity. 

Mr. Moody was fond of a joke, but did not always 
get the best of his victim. He started out in life as 
a drummer, and during Lincoln's administration 
was traveling through southern Illinois, when, as 
the train drew up to a station, he spoke to a man 
passing the car window, and asked if he knew that 
Lincoln was on the train. The man showed great 
interest and said: "No; is he?" "I think not, 
answered Moody, "I only asked if you knew that he 
was." The man said nothing, but presently re- 



262 EULOGY. 

turned and remarked that the little town had been 
experiencing considerable excitement. "What's 
the matter?" asked Mr. Moody. "The authorities 
wouldn't let some folks bury a woman," was the 
reply. "What was the reason for refusing?" Moody 
asked. "She wasn't dead," was the laconic reply. 

Talking to his class of girls one day against the 
practice of card-playing, theater-going and dancing, 
one young lady asked if he could not modify his 
statements and permit dancing among family 
friends, as the exercise tended to add grace to one's 
figure. Mr. Moody replied: "My dear girl, I 
would a thousand times rather have you get more 
grace in your heart and less in your heels. ' ' 

Moody recognized the power of the press. He 
once remarked: "I believe that the press and the 
pulpit are the two great agencies to purify the 
world. ' ' But he had no exalted opinion of certain 
metropolitan papers of which he once remarked: 
"I don't believe that the newspapers of Sodom and 
Gomorrah (if they had any) were guilty of worse 
things in their worst days. If a minister bored a 
hole in a man's head who had been reading that 
stuff, he could not inject a serious thought of eternal 
things. ' ' 

Undoubtedly much of the phenomenal success 
attending the evangelistic efforts of Mr. Moody was 
due to the association with him of t^e hymn-singing 
Ira D. Sankey. The newspapers heralded the com- 
ing, not of Mr. Moody, the preacher, but of Moody 
and Sankey, the evangelists, and Mr. Sankey's part 
in the service was an important part of the program. 

Indeed, the music, both solo and congregational, 
was to many persons the most attractive feature of 



EULOGY. 253 

the Moody and Sankey meetings. When one's 
emotions are stirred by grand old hymns, sung with 
unction by an immense audience, sweet and cher- 
ished memories of earlier years throng the mind, 
which are calculated to awaken whatever is solemn 
and reverent in one's nature. The average person 
is then peculiarly receptive to religious influences. 
— Wm. H. Knight, in Los Angeles Herald. 



These post-graduates of theological knowledge 
were suspicious and jealous of this man, Christ, 
who, without the commonly accepted mental cul- 
ture, sprang among them and at once showed them 
that He was their Master. But he had not been 
trained in the orthodox fashion. He had not been 
through the regularly prescribed curriculum. He 
had no collegiate diploma. And to this day men 
are shy of anyone who dashes into any line of work 
and shows himself a master, unless he has received 
that training that the world contends a man must 
have to gain success. 

The world was shy of Moody at first, and the the- 
ologians especially, but he deservedly stood in the 
first rank of Christ's descendants, and the world has 
long since so greeted him. 

In all kinds of people there are common, generic 
attributes that produce a democratic level, and on 
this level we find believers and unbelievers. All of 
both classes agree as to Moody's greatness and use- 
fulness. Collegians, educators, politicians, the com- 
mon people, join unanimously in proclaiming him 
great. What made him great, pre-eminent among 
his fellows? 

God gave Moody the necessary physical virility 



254 EULOGY. 

and build for greatness. He was given wonderful 
mental clearness, large "rationality," another name 
for common sense. Those so endowed often go off 
at a tangent, into some vagary, and become and are 
properly termed cranks. Not so with Moody. No 
particular school or church could claim him, yet all 
claimed him. All said he was orthodox. 

He had marvelous sagacity and tact. He read 
men quickly and accurately. He was a blunt man; 
had no time to exchange compliments. His will 
power was supreme. Like St. Paul, he was a divine 
egotist. Christ's will was behind him. 

His moral qualities were always noted for their 
sincerity and genuineness. He was a teacher and 
liver of righteousness. He was a learned man, 
not of the cloistered class. His school was real life, 
and from this he secured the deepest form of edu- 
cation. Books were not his source of learning. A 
great man precedes the great book, for without 
the great man there can be no great book. 

One book, however, he knew to the highest de- 
gree of perfection — the Bible. All his technical 
knowledge was drawn from this. It was his stock 
in trade. This book, with human life, as it prac- 
tically exists, he knew from lid to lid. He had a 
Shakespearean power of knowing and telling of 
men. 

Spiritually, Moody possessed a superlative faith — 
glad, free, spontaneous. He was never haunted by 
any questionings as to the inspiration of the Bible. 
Christ's divinity, the reality of the cross or the fu- 
ture meeting of his Master. His was a conquering 
faith. His heart was purity itself, and consecrated 
beyond man's knowledge. 



EULOGY. 255 

Moody with Sankey was the force that drove back 
the tide of agnosticism which some years ago seemed 
to be about to overwhelm England. He was another 
Wesley, Wakefield, Luther. And all this great 
power was because Christ lived in Moody. His 
belief in Christ was not a mere intellectual, casual 
belief. He really lived in Christ and Christ in him. 
Moody belonged to Christ. He was captured, mas- 
tered by Him and was his bond slave. He was 
eaten up with ambition, surpassing that of Alex- 
ander, but Moody's ambition was the saving of souls 
for Christ. 

Moody has gone to the unseen, but let us rejoice 
for his life and that now he is at rest, a victor of 
victors in life's battle. Be not discouraged; the 
mold for great men is never broken, and God will 
raise up another such leader who will win still 
greater victories for the cause of righteousness. — 
Rev. J. Kinsey Smith, Louisville, Ky. 



So pre-eminently Christ-like was this great worker 
for the Lord and his fellow-men, that out of many 
times that I have heard him speak I could not dis- 
cover a trace of sectarianism. He was first of all 
a Christian, then a Methodist. He was essentially 
a religious teacher, and not a theological exponent, 
and measured by the Christ standard, 'By their 
fruits ye shall know them, ' he did a work great and 
marvelous. The life of Moody was not consecrated 
to the attacking of the beliefs of others or the 
defending of his own personal theology, but the 
inspiring of men and women with the hope of a 
sweeter and better life here and hereafter. 

He seemed to have a power to encourage the 



256 EULOGY. 

despairing and to inspire the hopeless ones. He 
seemed to be a living reservoir of faith, hope and 
inspiration, which he could impart to those about 
him. For who can doubt that the soul filled with 
hope can impart hope to others, or that the brave- 
hearted can inspire the weak or down-hearted ones? 

The burden of this great man's preaching was to 
make men and women good, pure and Christ-like. 
To show them the loving plan of God in human life 
and destiny, which they all had the power to defeat 
or realize by their own lives and actions, the key 
note of his preaching was so often sounded in that 
favorite text, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked, 
for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap." 

Mr. Moody never tried to frighten men into the 
kingdom of God but he rather plead with them and 
persuaded them, holding before them a vision of 
the love of God in the parable of the prodigal son, 
and the tenderness of Christ towards the Magdalen, 
and His sympathy for the weak and sinful. He 
preached powerfully to men's hearts and consciences, 
but seldom to their fears and never to their super- 
stitions. To him, there was no mystery in religion 
save the mystery there is in the transformation of a 
hard, selfish, sinful soul into a soul gentle, sweet, 
unselfish and Christ-like. He had a great convic- 
tion that his Bible and his Christ could transform 
and save the world, and this glowing conviction 
especially displayed itself when he went to Henry 
Ward Beecher and earnestly pleaded with him to 
join with him in evangelistic work. "Other men," 
said he, "can carry on a pastorate; leave your pulpit 
and join with me ; together we will sweep the coun- 
try for Christ." We can not now estimate what 



EULOGY. 257 

would have been accomplished had these two great 
apostles of the religion of faith, hope and love joined 
together, at that time, in such a powerful itiner- 
ancy. 

The religious soul, feels the loss of this great soul 
and vast religious power, for we never listened to 
his voice without feeling that the Spirit of God was 
back of it ! The Christ life of the man beamed in 
his eyes and throbbed in his pleading voice. He 
did not pretend to be a scholar in the higher sense 
of the word. He was a man of the people and the 
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man was 
the cornerstone of his convictions. He once declared 
that "that the man who talks from a deep thought 
basis may get the twentieth man, but I am after the 
other nineteenth men." 

Perhaps the greatest evangelistic work that was 
ever done in the world's history was when Ira 
Sankey sang and Mr. Moody preached all over Eng- 
land, Scotland and this country. Thousands of 
people were often led to determine upon a better life 
in a single city. Many a poor, burdened soul — 
downcast and discouraged — heard his ringing words, 
"Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," felt 
the power of the Holy Spirit and went away happy 
and hopeful. The power of such a life no pen can 
ever describe nor imagination put into language. 
Though dead, he still lives, not only in the more 
Christ-like thought he has scattered broadcast and 
the thousands of lives he has started heavenward, 
but in the great schools he founded for boys and 
girls at Northfield, Mass. Prof. Drummond once 
wrote that ' ' Scotland would not be to-day what it is 
had it missed the year of Moody and Sankey !" Such 



258 EULOGY. 

a great soul has left this life to be hailed, and wel- 
comed into God's spiritual kingdom. — Rev. Von 
Herrlichs, Kansas City, Mo. 



I have nothing but good to say of Mr. Moody. Of 
late years he was growing rapidly in the right 
direction. The tolerance which he recentl}^ evinced 
towards the higher criticism and his friendship for 
men like Prof. Henry Drummond and George Adam 
Smith, showed him to be a man of broader sympa- 
thies than one would suspect from his earlier rec- 
ord. His devotion to education and his recognition 
of its necessity were clear indications of a growth in 
the man himself. It would be rash in any man to 
suspect Mr. Moody's entire sincerity, and as an 
expounder of the spiritual sense of the Scriptures he 
had few, if any, equals. As an evangelist, he had 
no equal whatever. Mr. Moody had the almost 
unerring instinct of a great commander of men. I 
sat one night during Mr. Moody's hippodrome cam- 
paign in New York in the audience at the after- 
meeting. After a time I observed him beckoning 
in my direction and I looked about to see whom he 
had in mind. I concluded after a moment that he 
was beckoning to me, so I stepped up to him and 
found that he desired that I should speak to a cer- 
tain flaxen-haired German-looking man in another 
part of the audience. I did as he requested, and it 
appeared that it was a wise bringing together of 
two men, for the man seemed to me to want to hear 
precisely what I had to say. There could have 
been no explanation of the choice of me for that 
service, except a wise intuition on the part of the 
great preacher from the sight of the two faces before 



EULOGY. 259 

him, that I was the man for that particular part of 
the service. I have heard of many instances of this 
display of Mr. Moody's clear intuition and his ability 
to adapt particular means to specific ends. His 
judgment was nearly without fault in such cases. 
While Mr. Moody was of a theological school to 
which I do not belong, and while I often felt com- 
pelled to criticise some of his methods, I have always 
had the profoundest respect for him as an honest, 
earnest and remarkably efficient preacher of the 
gospel of Christ. He was a great organizer and 
would have made as equally a great field general as 
a leader of the forces of the church. — Rev. Judson 
Titsworth, Milwaukee, Wis. 



CHAPTER XX. 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

A notable life has ended with the departure of 
Dwight L. Moody to the other world. Few men, 
no matter what their opportunities or resources, 
have been able to do anything like a fair proportion 
of the good for their fellow creatures that has been 
wrought during the past twenty-five years or over 
by the dead evangelist. His life was an inspiration 
to those who knew him to do good for their fellows. 

His religion was broad enough to embrace human- 
ity. His daily exertions were ever in the direction 
of promoting the happiness of his fellow-man, both 
here and hereafter. 

The keynote to the success of this wonderful man 
is found in the last words spoken by him. They 
were : "I have always been an ambitious man ; not 
to lay up wealth, but to find work to do. ' ' If that 
were generally the animating principle of men's 
conduct, the world would be a much happier place 
than it is. The character of the work which Mr. 
Moody was ambitious to do furnishes the secret of 
his wondrous control of men. Those who met him 
knew by instinct that his work was done with a single 
thought of their good. He gave freely of his won- 
drous powers, and when death presented to him a 
notice that the end was not far off he treated the 
260 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 263 

warning with a smile and a laugh. It was nothing 
he said. He would be all right in a little while, 
and he would go on with his work. It was his work 
which concerned him, and he refused to see or count 
on anything that might take him away from it. 

The religion of this man was happiness. He was 
a living demonstration of the truth that he who lives 
rightly, for others rather than for himself, is most 
certain of happiness. He stirred men's souls deeply, 
because he approached them through all the best 
promptings of their nature. To get them to lead 
good lives, rather than to be faithful in the profes- 
sion of their religion ; to bring them to the doing of 
good for others as well as for themselves, represented 
the end and aim of his labors. His wondrous suc- 
cess attests at once the innate disposition of ordinary 
men and women to fulfill their duty toward God 
and their neighbors and the splendid powers, splen- 
didly utilized, with which he was endowed. 

The world needs a good deal more of the religion 
of the deceased gentleman than is expounded to it. 
He cared very little for religious precept. He held 
a good story above a Scripture text in its capacity 
for appealing to the understanding and conscience 
of those with whom he had to deal. The outward 
symbols of religion had but little thought from him. 
He taught that happiness came more from well- 
doing than from well-being or from the strict 
observance of religious precept. Religion embraced 
with him happiness here and hereafter. Few such 
men appear in a generation ; but they leave behind 
them effects and influences which advanced mater- 
ially the ends of the Christian religion. — St. Paul 
Globe. 

15 



264 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

One of the hard features of a soldier's life is the 
fact that his heart must be like adamant toward 
foes, no matter how innocent, and even sometimes 
toward his friends. He rushes like a bloodthirsty- 
field upon men against whom he has not the slight- 
est feeling of personal animosity, and for whom 
under other circumstances, he would gladly do any 
kindly service in his power. He must leave a 
brother to bleed to death, or perhaps must charge 
over him, trampling out his life. He must relent- 
lessly shoot down the comrade of a score of battles 
because he fails in the pinch or proves false in a 
crisis. Call it cruel and wicked if you will, yet it is 
the way that our great world has gone struggling 
upward for 6,000 years and more; and we to-day 
enjoy so much as we have of the protection of just 
laws, keep our holiday festivities in safety and wor- 
ship God as our conscience bids us in peace, because 
men have done these things in the years of the 
past. 

The "knight of the better era" — the man who 
fights with the pen rather than with the sword, and 
sends words and ideas instead of bullets and cannon 
ball crashing against his fellow-men, has often a lot 
no less hard than that of the soldier of the sword. 
Often must he speak words that seem harsh and ter- 
rible because he must be "as harsh as truth." 
Often must his face be like a flint toward those 
whom he would gladly recognize as friends because 
he must be "as uncompromising as justice." 
Kind, tender-hearted people are wounded as he 
goes charging by or over them and never perhaps 
recognize him in any other light than that in which 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 265 

he momentarily appears to their lacerated sensibil- 
ities. 

Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist, 
died on Friday last. We have criticised him in 
these columns — sometimes with a terrible severity. 

We are filled with regret to day, not that we crit- 
icised him, but that it was necessary to do so, and 
we regret it now not a whit more than when we 
wrote the most severe of the sentences. He was a 
great man, and, measured by ordinary or even by 
extraordinary standards, he was a good man. Along 
certain lines of service for his fellow-men, he wrought 
magnificently. But when a great door of opportu- 
nity for a service broader and more beneficent than 
any that he had ever rendered, opened before him, 
he failed of the stature of manhood necessary to 
enter. Many great duties came to his life and he 
performed them bravely. But when a supreme 
duty appeared, when it was within his power to 
have spoken the word that would have meant a 
mighty moral uplift for the national life of the 
whole American people ; when, as we believe, the 
call came to him to lead forward for the civic regen- 
eration of the race, he flinched, lacked courage, and 
turned his back upon the duty. 

We called attention to the fault, and, so long as 
there was hope that a severe remedy might bring a 
cure, we spoke with the fierceness and ruthlessness 
demanded by the exigency. Now that the life with 
all its successes and, what seems to us its one great 
failure, is closed, we record the facts only that wis- 
dom may be justified, and we have not in our hearts 
nor on our pen an unkind word concerning him. 
Let the man who never failed, let the man in whose 



266 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

life there never was a fault, undertake the task of 
criticism. Until such a critic is found we are silent. 

Mr. Moody, as we believe, paid a terrible penalty 
for his mistake. A trumpet that has never sounded 
anything but advance will never sound just the same 
again after it has once blown retreat, and from the 
hour that Mr. Moody failed to grasp the opportunity 
that would have made him the greatest Christian 
citizen of the world, and, instead of leading forward 
the good men of the nation, became content to fol- 
low the bad almost as blindly as their worst follow- 
ers — from that hour his power dwindled, until in 
these latter days he has gone up and down the 
country great only as a reminiscence. Mr. Moody's 
meetings of late have not lacked numbers, have not 
lacked a certain sort of enthusiasm, but they have 
lacked POWER; and the loss of that power that he 
used to wield was a penalty awful to contemplate. 

But he died with beautiful words upon his lips. 
"I have always been an ambitious man," the papers 
tell us he said, "not ambitious to lay up wealth, 
but to find work to do. ' ' 

It was a great thing to have had such an impulse 
in life, a great thing even if it was not always fully 
followed. It was grand to march through the world 
to that tune, even if he sometimes did break step. 
Our faces have been stern against him. He failed 
us when the need was sore. But in the marchings 
of the future and around the bivouacs of nights to 
come, we will think of him kindly and speak of him 
gently. And some day mayhap when we have all 
been put upon with "the powers of an endless life," 
we shall serve again shoulder to shoulder. — New 
Voice, Chicago. 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 267 

Dwight L. Moody, who passed from life yester- 
day, was a remarkable person and a man of many 
friends. Much of his life was so intensely public in 
its character, and so devoted to the public's good, 
that a more than passing notice is required as he 
moves from the stage of life's activities to the 
shades of a perpetual rest. 

It is difficult to criticise Mr. Moody with justness, 
when one is not in entire sympathy with the 
methods he employed, with some of the teachings 
he encouraged and the customs he inaugurated. 
The first thing, however, to do is to give Mr. Moody 
credit for sincerity, for generosity, for conscientious 
devotion to what he believed. No one doubts his 
Christianity ; no one would intimate that he failed of 
doing a vast amount of good in the past quarter of 
a century and in many parts of the world. 

Mr. Moody is understood to have been a man who 
could not, and who would not, work save as an 
independent. The recognized avenues of church 
effort, the instituted agencies already at hand, 
meant little to him, save as he could make use of 
them for the introduction of what was striking and 
novel in his own plan of work. He was a great 
preacher because he preached to the masses. He 
cut loose from tradition, from established usages, 
and as a result these have in a measure been less 
available than formerly. He preached a simple, 
easily understood gospel. He made the Christ to 
seem real, and Christianity to appeal as something 
to be not only desired, but essential, absolutely 
necessary; and thousands were led through the 
personality of the man and the earnestness of his 
appeals to reform their lives. 



268 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

No doubt many who started under the impulses 
born of his dominating potential personality fell out 
by the way when that influence had passed; but 
that has been demonstrated in every reformatory 
work since the ancient times when first "A sower 
went forth to sow. ' ' 

Mr. Moody's work paved the way, in no small 
measure, and we believe in this country much more 
so than in Great Britain, where he also labored, for 
the onward sweep of the Christian Endeavor 
Society's movement, and for the introduction of that 
era of a better feeling of tolerance between churches 
of different denominations that has grown and de- 
veloped more freely during the past twenty years 
than ever before. 

The theologian who delights in theology, the 
schoolman who has always a use for the graces 
taught in the schools, the musician who finds some- 
thing in music more than rhythm and jingle, the 
poet who notes the finer meaning and reads between 
the lines, — to these Mr. Moody's personality does 
not appeal strongly. They respect his Christian 
purpose, his untiring zeal, his unfaltering hope; 
they rejoice in all the good he has done. But they 
work differently. They may do Christ's work for 
Christ's sake, as he did it, but not in his way. 

In the long run, it is conceded that the churches, 
not the individuals, win. Spasmodic, individual 
efforts outside of them do not long survive the alert 
personality that founded them, and when a man is 
dead who shall take up the man's work? The 
church never dies and in her mission and her scope 
there is room for every form of service, opportunity 
for reforms made necessary by changing customs in 



i 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 



civilization, in tastes, in natural prejudices, but 
never in morals, in sacred teachings or in the great 
ends to be reached, — the uplifting of humanity and 
the salvation of the race. — Providence Telegram. 



The fear felt that the work of D. L. Moody, the 
evangelist, was ended when the news came of his 
break-down in Kansas City, has been confirmed. 
Brought back to his birthplace at Northfield, his 
physicians held out hopes of his rallying, but med- 
ical attention and the loving care bestowed on him 
by his family have counted for nothing as against 
the results of years of arduous, unsparing work. 
The pressure under which he had labored for so 
long had its inevitable effect in undermining his 
constitution, and although the news of his death yes- 
terday came with a shock of suddenness, it was not 
unexpected. To those who knew the man in his 
numberless activities, the wonder is that he was 
spared for so many years of life. 

Mr. Moody was a great evangelist, and he did a 
great work. An unordained and essentially popu- 
lar preacher, who felt that his commission to win 
souls was in his love for Christ and his desire to 
serve Him — he reached thousands who were not 
likely to come under the influence of any church, 
and working in and through churches he appealed 
to thousands of others, whose belief in Christianity 
he quickened from a dull acceptance of doctrine 
into a living power. Earnest in his own convic- 
tions, and gifted with a remarkable talent for enlist- 
ing the interest and sympathy of his hearers, he was 
a speaker of unusual effectiveness. Direct and sim- 
ple in his utterances, not always grammatical, fond 



270 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

of anecdote and homely illustration, emotional, 
sometimes to an extreme — such was D wight L. 
Moody as the leader of countless public meetings. 
He filled churches and audience rooms because the 
people believed he had a message to deliver ; as for 
himself he believed that that message was of tre- 
mendous consequence. His methods have been 
criticised, but, certainly, he Vvras not open to the 
charge of.being insincere. His whole life was given 
to doing what he felt to be his highest duty. To 
this task he brought native ability, and a constantly 
increasing knowledge of the ways to make that 
ability count for the most. 

Mr. Moody's cornerstone was the Bible. A de- 
voted student of that book, he stood for its accept- 
ance in its entirety. An unlettered man, as com- 
pared to the present day exponents of the ''higher 
criticism," he did not hesitate to preach his faith, 
and to live it. A man of the people, he understood 
how to appeal to the people; he touched human life 
at many points, in his career, and from his own ex- 
periences he drew many a striking lesson. No 
respecter of persons, or seeker after favor, his 
independent attitude attracted rather than repelled, 
and he had a marked faculty for enlisting in his 
enterprises those who, he thought, would help him 
in the greatest measure. He welcomed co-workers. 
Men of prominence in this country and from abroad 
were asked by him to address his Northfield meet- 
ings, and felt honored in being asked. For young 
men and for young women he had a special interest, 
and on them he had a special influence. He attracted 
them, and held them. His college conferences, in 
Northfield, that beautiful Massachusetts town, have 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 271 

been positive sources of inspiration. From the 
"Auditorium" or "Round Top" meetings many 
have gone, with strength and courage, to missionary 
fields, or to engage in Christian work in their home 
communities. And of the hundreds of attendants 
on these conferences, there can surely be but few, 
who have not been impressed with Mr. Moody's 
personality, and helped by contact with him. 

Mr. Moody was a man of essentially practical 
aims. He believed that he could do things, and he 
had remarkable success in doing them. His School 
for Boys at Mount Hermon and his School for Girls 
at Northfield are evidences of what his persistent 
efforts have accomplished; his other enterprises 
apart from his evangelistic work included Bible and 
normal training schools and conferences for Chris- 
tian workers and for students. Up to the time that 
he was stricken, a few weeks since, he continued 
hi^ widely extended speaking tours. A whitening 
beard was the only apparent mark of his advancing 
years. At his last meetings in Kansas City he 
appeared at his best. His addresses were full of 
power, and as effective as ever in making converts. 

Mr. Moody did not die an old man. Born in 

Northfield in 1837, it was only two years ago that 

he passed his sixty-first birthday. His father, a 

stone mason and farmer, died when Mr. Moody was 

a child. The mother was left in poverty, and the 

eldest son ran away. But Mrs. Moody was a woman 

of pluck. She kept the rest of her family together 

and provided for their support. When seventeen 

years old Dwight L. Moody went to Boston to earn 

his living. He found employment in an uncle's 

shoe shop, and early became interested in church 
16 



272 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

work. But it is related that his associates thought 
him unlikely ever to become "a Christian of clear 
and decided views of gospel truth ; still less to fill 
any extended sphere of public usefulness." 

In 1856, when he was nineteen, he went to Chi- 
cago, and obtained a place in a shoe store. He 
joined a church and at once rented four pews for 
young men whom he intended to bring in. He 
offered to teach in a mission school, and was told 
that his services would be welcome, if he would 
bring his own pupils. The next Sunday he walked 
in at the head of eighteen ragged urchins whom he 
had found in the streets. He frequented the 
wharves, trying to convert sailors, and he did mis- 
sionary work in the saloons. His great Sunday- 
school was started in a room that had been used for 
a saloon. He soon had a thousand pupils; the 
saloon building had been found to be too small, and 
the sessions were held in a hall, Mr. Moody being 
janitor as well as instructor. All this time the 
young man kept up his business, which had come to 
be that of a traveling salesman. In i860, when 
twenty- three years old, he made up his mind to take 
up evangelizing work exclusively. 

During the civil war Mr. Moody was employed by 
the Christian commission, and later by the Young 
Men's Christian Association of Chicago, as a lay 
missionary. When he first gave up his regular 
business it was necessary for him to keep his ex- 
penses as low as possible ; he slept on a bench in 
the Y. M. C. A. rooms, and ate the plainest food. 
Such success attended his work with the soldiers 
and in Chicago that a church for his Chicago con- 
verts was built, and he became its unordained pas- 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 273 

tor. In 1873 Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey, the 
singer (with whose name that of the evangelist is 
inseparably associated), decided to make a trip to 
Great Britain on the invitation of two friends. 
When they arrived they found that their friends 
were dead; the evangelist and the singer were not 
known, and, at their fij'st meeting, which was held 
at York, four persons were present. Mr. Moody 
afterwards said that it was one of the best meetings 
that he and Mr. Sankey ever held. 

The tour was a wonderful success. The meetings 
increased in attendance and interest; at Glasgow 
30,000 people gathered in the open air to try to hear 
the evangelist, and the London meetings lasted 
four months, the total attendance being estimated 
at 2,500,000 people. On his return to the United 
States a series of great meetings were held in New 
York, Philadelphia, Boston and Mr. Moody's home 
city, Chicago. During his absence his church, 
which was burned in 187 1, had been rebuilt. He 
took up his work there again, making evangelistic 
trips to different parts of the country and going 
abroad a second time. He finally left Chicago for 
Northfield, where a house was given him by friends, 
and in Northfield he continued to make his home 
till his death. Of late years he had been occupied 
more exclusively in the development and conduct 
of his successful schools, and in the direction of his 
conferences, but he spoke in various places from 
time to time; his activity was incessant. 

Mr. Moody's tastes were simple; he lived in his 
work. He never received a salary, and he did not 
ask contributions for himself. His reputation as a 
speaker ensured a wide sale for his sermons and 



274 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

other writings, in book form. Mr. Moody married 
a Miss Revell, and she and two sons and a daughter 
survive him. 

Dwight L. Moody put his great forces into the 
work of redemption. He wanted to help men ; to 
save them. He wanted to increase the opportu- 
nities for Christian education, and he wanted to 
inspire others with the desire to aid in the spread 
of Christianity. How he accomplished his ambi- 
tions his life story shows. 

What he put his hand to he did with his might ; 
the results of his work live after his death. The 
summons that his career was at an end came to him 
undoubtedly as he would have wished — when he 
was in active service. — Hartford (Conn.) Courant. 



About the only criticism of Mr. Moody that has 
appeared in print is that of Justin D. Fulton, D. D., 
in his book on the Life of Charles H. Spurgeon, the 
great English preacher. He says: 

*'Moodyism is a growth rather than a policy. It 
is the name of a movement rather than an organiz- 
ation. It is an attempt to evangelize the millions 
without instructing them in regard to church obli- 
gations, and the necessity of observing the ordi- 
nances Christ instituted. At this point Moodyism 
allies itself with Romanism, and claims the right to 
take away from the words of the prophecy of this 
book without regard to the utterance, 'God shall 
take away his part from the tree of life and out of 
the holy city, which are written in this book. ' 

"To prosecute this work as an evangelist. Young 
Men's Christian Association buildings have been 
constructed, with reading-rooms and social parlors, 
and in some instances billiard rooms, where games 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 275 

are indulged in, and almost anything calculated to 
attract, is permitted, to be followed by consecrated 
efforts to woo and win. 

"Moodyism, with its unsectarian 'Young Men's 
Christian Associations, Christian Endeavor Socie- 
ties,' thousands of lay evangelists and its mission- 
aries, in all parts of the world, becomes without ap- 
pointment and without control, either an extraordi- 
nary help or a tremendous peril to the church life 
of the world. As at present organized it is almost 
as much outside the church life of Christianity as is 
Romanism. Is it in an alliance with Romanism in 
fact if not in theory? Moody adopts gospel methods, 
as does not Romanism ; depends on the Holy Spirit 
for converting power, while Romanism trusts to 
baptismal regeneration, sacraments, priestly absolu- 
tion, and purgatorial fire for salvation. But Moody- 
ism, working w4th the rich, the cultured, and the 
influential, and the Salvation Army with the very 
poor, alike ignoring the ordinances Christ instituted, 
deserve reproof for not obeying Christ. The believ- 
ing in Christ they should do, and not leave the other 
undone. 

"Mr. Moody believes in immersion as New Testa- 
ment baptism, and, it is said, was immersed in the 
Jordan, and yet by influence and e5w.mple sanctions 
infant baptism, the tap-root of baptismal regenera- 
tion on which Romanists rest for salvation. Thou- 
sands and millions imitate him. Is it safe to do so? 
Pentecost in India is an evangelist for Moodyism. 

"Shall Christians forget that the necessities of the 
times call loudly to Christians to bestir themselves 
and take the place and hold it which does not belong 
to Young Men's Christian Associations or any other 



276 EDITORIAL COMMENT. 

unsectarian movement. A barrel without hoops is 
as valuable as are Christians unharnessed or un- 
trained in church life. Shall the churches step to 
the front and take what belong-s to them? Shall 
they let the light shine which Christ has entrusted 
to their keeping, remembering 'that the Lord's 
hand is not shortened, that he cannot save, nor his 
ear heavy that he cannot hear?' We are not to 
pray that Moodyism may do less, but that the 
churches as Christ organized them may do more 
than ever before, and measure up to the untold re- 
sponsibilities which are committed to their keeping. 
Moodyism, without asserting it and, perhaps, with- 
out designing it, is as antagonistic to the system of 
faith that makes belief and baptism the source of 
its power and the feature of its life, as is Romanism. 

"Recently it has come out that Mr. Moody gave 
money to build a Roman Catholic house of worship 
in Northfield. Some knew this years ago, and there 
were those who went and saw the evangelist in his 
home, and endeavored to persuade him to turn his 
attention to the need of telling the unvarnished 
truth concerning Romanism. In vain. No distinc- 
tive anti- Romanist has been welcome to Northfield. 
It is because Moodyism averages the public Christ- 
ian sentiment of the hour, that truth-telling is not 
in order. 

*' There is need of Mr. Moody's enthusiasm and 
generalship in this work for Romanists. Let him 
realize their ruin without Christ, and it would stir 
him. It IS not the evangelist alone that is needed, 
but all that he can influence, and all that influences 
him Let prayer arise that the Holy Spirit will 
cause him and others to realize the value of the 



i 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 277 

souls of Romanists, and give them no rest until the 
outpouring shall come upon undone Roman Catho- 
lics, causing them to cry out, 'Men and brethren, 
what must we do to be saved?' God can do this in 
answer to prayer, and can cause the great evangelist 
to lead in the work of rescuing the lost from the 
night of their thraldom and bring them to the light 
of an eternal day." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



MEMORIAL. 

An eloquent and touching sermon was delivered 
by Rev. Henry H. Stebbins, at Central Church, 
Rochester, N. Y., as a memorial to D wight L. 
Moody, December 31, 1899. The songs and psalms 
were the same as those used at the evangelist's 
funeral, and the entire service was a memorial to him 
who with his last breath said: *'Is this dying? 
Then death is bliss!" Dr. Stebbins said: 

* ' I take for my text this morning the first words 
that occurred to me, when I learned that Dwight L. 
Moody had gone hence to be here no more. His 
death, like a magnet, has attracted numerous ex- 
pressions of Scripture singularly pertinent to the 
man whose departure we mourn. 

"We associate with him words like these: 'Stead- 
fast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of 
the Lord.' He 'went about doing good.' 'He had 
compassion on the multitude.' 'A friend of sin- 
ners.' 'I know that my Redeemer liveth.' 'I 
know whom I have believed. ' 'By the grace of God 
lam what I am.' 'Though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. ' 

"They tell us that among the floral designs at 
Mr. Moody's funeral was that of an open Bible on 
the one side of which was 'Victory, I Corinthians 
278 




Copyright I'Jiill. I 



liol)t. O. Law. 

MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE, CHICAGO. 



Hundreds oi Bible student? assemble here daily for the purpose of gleaning scriptural 
knowledge. 



MEMORIAL. 281 

i5o5*57»' and on the other side: 'II Timothy, 
4:7-8.' 

"So we might go on, enumerating passages of 
Scripture suggested by Mr. Moody's death because 
Mr. Moody's life was in such close touch with so 
much of the spirit and the letter of God's Word. 
And this brings me at once to what appeals to me 
as one of the four cardinal features of Mr. Moody's 
phenomenal life — his attachment to God's Word. 
Right here the conviction smites me of how he must 
have reveled in the 119th Psalm, which plays so 
many variations on the theme of God's Word. 

" 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light 
unto my path. My heart standeth in awe of Thy 
word. * 

" 'I rejoice at Thy word as one that findeth great 
spoil. Thy word is very pure ; therefore Thy ser- 
vant loveth it. Oh, how love I Thy law ; it is my 
meditation all the day. How sweet are Thy words 
unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. ' 

"Mr. Moody's creed about the Bible was that all 
Scripture was given by inspiration of God and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction 
in righteousness. And he believed that holy men 
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost. He held fast the faith once delivered to 
the saints. 

"In the handling of the Bible — and how intelli- 
gently, skilfully, reverently and affectionately he 
handled it — in handling the Bible he was a literalist 
rather than a believer in the allegory and fable 
theories of Scripture. He believed that the whale 
swallowed Jonah; that the serpent tempted the 
woman. He believed the story of the deluge. He 

16 



282 MEMORIAL. 

believed that the water was turned into wine. And 
he believed so, not because he was artificial in his 
understanding of the Bible, nor because he was not 
learned in all the wisdom of the schools. Indeed 
some of the most learned men kept company with 
Mr. Moody as a literalist. I recall one, an eminent 
scholar, who was on the American committee of 
revisers of the Bible, and who to the day of his 
death believed that the world was created in six 
dajT-s of twenty-four hours each. Mr. Moody's atti- 
tude toward the Bible is well illustrated in the fol- 
lowing bit of experience he related: 'A man came 
to me with a difficult passage in the Bible the other 
day and said: "Mr. Moody, what do you do with 
that ? " ' I do not do anything with it. ' " How do you 
understand it?" *I do not understand it. ' "How do 
you explain it.^" 'I do not explain it. ' "What do 
you do with it?" 'I do not do anything.' "You do 
not believe it, do you?" 'Oh, yes, I believe it. 
'There are lots of things I do not understand, but 
I believe them. I do not know anything about 
higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do 
not understand astronomy, but I believe in astron- 
omy. Can you tell me why the same kind of food 
turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger- 
nails, according as it is eaten by one animal or 
another? A man told me a while ago he could not 
believe a thing he had never seen. I said: "Man, 
did you ever see your brain? Did you ever notice 
that the things men cavil most about are the very 
things on which Christ has set His seal?" 

"Doubtless one secret of Mr. Moody's power as a 
preacher was his unshaken faith in God's word. 
His motto seemed to be: 'I believe, and therefore I 



MEMORIAL. 283 

Speak.' His 'Thus saith the Lord' was freighted 
with such intense, absorbing conviction, that the 
people heard and wondered and were under convic- 
tion, were converted unto God or confirmed in the 
faith. 

"One reason why such unprecedented multitudes 
thronged to hear him — it is said that for nearly six 
years Mr. Moody's audiences, afternoons and eve- 
nings, averaged five thousand — one reason, I say, 
why so many thronged to hear him was that he 
spake as one having authority. 

" 'Why do you go to hear Moody?' said a lawyer 
scornfully to a fellow club member; 'you don't 
believe as he does?' 'No, but he believes what he 
preaches with all his heart, and it is well to meet 
such a man in these days of doubt and uncertainty. ' 

"The second cardinal feature of Mr. Moody's life 
was his devotion to prayer. Much as he set by the 
Bible, he seemed to set more by prayer. For 
prayer seemed to bring him face to face with God. 
His prayer was talk with God, even as friend talks 
with friend. Far into the night, or rising a long 
while before day, he communed with God. 

'* 'They that seek the throne of grace, 
Find that throne in every place. ' 

*'It was singularly true of him. He took every- 
thing to God in prayer. He lived in an atmosphere 
of prayer that fulfilled Paul's precept: 'Pray with- 
out ceasing. ' He was an impressive illustration of 
the assurance: 'They that wait on the Lord shall 
renew their strength. They shall mount up with 
wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, 
they shall walk and not faint. ' Prayer was Moody's 
vital breath. 



284 MEMORIAL. 

" 'Twas Moody's native air; 

His watchword at the gate of death, 
He entered heaven with prayer. 

"A third feature of Mr. Moody's life was his pro- 
digious activity. He was active in season, out of 
season. He outworked any and all who were 
associated with him. For more than forty years he 
has been indefatigable in the promotion of the 
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of 
him, and justly, as the great evangelist of the 
century. It is interesting to trace the evolution of 
his evangelistic spirit from the germ of his thorough 
conversion to God, to godliness and to godly ser- 
vice. 

*'It was in May, '56, that he joined the Mt. Ver- 
non Congregational church in Boston. In the fall 
of that year he went to Chicago and served as sales- 
man in the shoe business. Diligent in business, he 
was fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He joined 
the Plymouth Congregational church of Chicago, 
and his entrance into that church was abundant. 

*'He rented four pews and kept them filled with 
young men and boys — a splendid idea for some 
young man or young men of this church. Mr. 
Moody asked for a Sunday-school class. He was 
told he would be welcome to teach any class he 
chose to collect. The next Sunday he marched into 
the school at the head of eighteen ragged boys. 
Later he opened a mission of his own in an empty 
tavern. The school grew so that more commodious 
quarters had to be secured. Mr. Moody procured 
over sixty teachers for the school, the average 
attendance of which was 650. In i860, Mr. Moody 
gave up all other business and concentrated his 



MEMORIAL. 285 

energies upon distinctly Christian work. He lived 
on as little as possible. He had no home. His bed 
was a bench in the Y. M. C. A. Shortly he became 
a city missionary, and as the fruit of his labors, in 
1863 a church building was put up. In 1865 he was 
elected president of the Chicago Y. M. C. A. 

"Mr. Moody's evangelistic work during the war 
was conspicuous and prolific. In 1867 he went abroad 
for the first time, and again in 1873. You know, in 
general terms, of his blessed work, aided by Mr. 
Sankey, whom he called into the service about 187 1 
— in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Mr. Moody's 
ministry abroad marks an era in the religious life 
and in the Church of God of Great Britain. Then 
there were the great hippodrome meetings in New 
York and the evangelistic campaigns in Boston, 
Cleveland, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, St. 
Louis. Indeed, nearly every city of any size. North, 
South, East and West, in this country has its record 
of Moody meetings. It is estimated that Mr. 
Moody, during his evangelistic work, addressed not 
fewer than 100,000,000 persons. 

"We further associate Mr. Moody with the sum- 
mer conferences at Northfield, that had their origin 
in his invitation to a few friends to his home for 
prayer and Bible study. His evangelistic influence 
has been reinforced, extended and made permanent 
by the press. 

"Three or four years ago he established a colpor- 
tage association for the dissemination of good liter- 
ature, and hundreds of thousands of books have been 
sent to prison cells, home and foreign missionary 
fields and army camps, in addition to a large circula- 
tion in city and country homes. He also started 



286 MEMORIAL. 

two magazines devoted to evangelistic work. I 
count more than a score of books, the fruit of his 
labor on the platform, in his spiritual sanctum and 
elsewhere. 

*'But Mr. Moody, plain man as he was, not versed 
in the wisdom of the schools, has been a great edu- 
cator. The summer conferences at Northfield have 
been in the best sense educational for college men, 
young women, and the laity in general. Four institu- 
tions were under his immediate direction. Besides, 
the influence of Mr. Moody upon the pulpit, upon 
theology, upon the religious life, upon a broad- 
gauged Catholic Christianity has been immeasur- 
able. Not only was Mr. Moody the greatest evan- 
gelist since Whitefield, and a most aggressive and 
practical educator, but a great builder. 

'*I find the following statement in a recent number 
of the New York Tribune: 'His first building was 
the Illinois Street church in Chicago, erected about 
1858, for the shelter of his mission school, and the 
church which grew out of it. His second building 
enterprise was the Young Men s Christian Associa- 
tion building in Chicago, erected in 1866, the first 
commodious edifice for Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation purposes in this country. His third enter- 
prise was the re-erection of the first Young Men's 
Christian Association building, destroyed by fire. 
This also was destroyed in the great fire of 1871, 
and again rebuilt, mainly through Mr. Moody's 
efforts. The other Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion buildings in America, for which money was 
raised by Mr. Moody, and in whose erection he was 
more or less conspicuous, were at New York, Bos- 



MEMORIAL. 287 

ton, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore and 
Scranton. 

" 'In Great Britain there were erected by Mr 
Moody's personal efforts, or from the inspiration of 
his works; Christian Union building, Dublin ; Chris- 
tian Institute building, Glasgow; Carubber's Close 
mission, Edinburgh ; the story of which is not only 
interesting, but romantic; Conference hall, Strat- 
ford; Down Lodge hall, Wandsworth, London, and 
the Young Men's Christian Association building. 
Liverpool. 

" 'In addition to the above are twenty or more 
buildings at Northfield, Mass. ; the Chicago Avenue 
church and Bible Institute buildings, Chicago. ' 

"Such, in barest outline, is a memorandum of the 
work and labor of love in which he was always 
abounding, and that, too, notwithstanding that of 
late years he was compassed by the infirmity of a 
weak heart. 

"When challenged to run a foot race at a Sunday- 
school picnic in Northfield a few years ago he said : 
'I have heart disease, and would fall dead if I should 
make such an effort. ' At the same time he was 
administering the multiform interests that absorbed 
mind and heart and time. 

"The fourth cardinal feature of Mr. Moody's life 
was his fellowship with the Father, with His Son, 
Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost. This was 
the supreme reality in Mr. Moody's life. Enoch 
walked with God ; so did Moody. His conversation 
or citizenship was in heaven. That fellowship was 
the mainspring in the mechanism of his character 
and career. It was that that made him so devoted 
to God's Word that stimulated him to pray and that 



288 MEMORIAL. 

it was made him abound so in the work of the Lord, 
and made him so assured about the great salvation 

'* 'My mind is made up,' he said one time, 'on the 
question proposed^ namely, the relative merits of 
Christianity and infidelity. Somebody once asked 
Charles Sumner to hear the other side of slavery, 
"Hear the other side?" he replied. **Thereisno 
other side. I would as soon discuss the merits of 
Christianity and infidelity. ' * ' No one who studied his- 
tory,' said Mr. Moody, 'need hesitate in answering 
the question. I know what the Lord Jesus Christ 
has done for me during the last forty years since I 
trusted Him Let the members of your club accept 
Christ as their personal Saviour, and they need not 
waste time discussing such a question. If I had a 
remedy that never failed to cure disease for forty 
years, I should not stop to compare its merits with 
another remedy.* 

"It was his fellowship with Christ that made him 
determine to know nothing save Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified. It was because the Spirit taught 
him and brought all things to his remembrance that 
He was so instructed, unto the kingdom of Heaven, 
that He was able to bring forth out of the treasury 
of truth things new and old. It was his nearness to 
Christ that brought him so near to the Christian, 
and that raised him so far above the plane of denom- 
inationalism. It was his fellowship with Christ that 
inspired him with such a perennial passion for souls. 
His fellowship with Christ kept him humble. 

"By contrast to the ineffable holiness of the Lord, 
he exclaimed with Peter: 'Depart from me, for I 
am a sinful man, O Lord. ' His fellowship with God 
made him to an almost unparalleled degree fearless, 



MEMORIAL. 289 

unconstrained and at home in the presence of 
princes, or of men mighty for wealth, wisdom or 
social rank. His attitude was never apologetic. 
He was a righteous man who, in the delivery of his 
message, however faulty it might be judged by the 
canons of rhetoric or good literary form, was bold 
as a lion. He walked before God as God told Abra- 
ham to do. No man came between him and God. 
He saw no man save Jesus only. To his own loving 
and beloved Master he stood or fell. Consummate 
achievement! 

"This was what Dr. Pentacost meant who wrote 
me in a letter from Northfield : 

** 'Dear old Moody is under ground. During his 
life I have never known a man so very much above 
ground as he. Peace be to his soul. ' 

*'It was Mr. Moody's fellowship with God that 
kept him so true to himself. He was simply and 
grandly natural. His tact, his rare sagacity, his 
wealth of saving common sense, his superb adminis- 
trative ability stood out in the bolder relief because 
of the God who wrought in him. Let God have free 
course in a man's life as he did in Mr. Moody's and 
that man's personality is wonderfully developed. 
He wears no affected air, he does not talk in one 
tone and preach in another and pray in another. 
He is not one sort of man on Sunday and another 
sort of man the rest of the week, but he is simply 
natural all the while. The man who lives near- 
est Christ lives nearest to his own individuality. 
He who is likest to Christ is most unlike other 
Christians is truest to himself as distinguished from 
other men. This was why, from first to last, Moody 
was Moody. At home or abroad, in private or in 



290 MEMORIAL, 

public, before ten or ten thousand, he was simply 
Moody. 

"The picture you have seen of him in the papers 
since his death is not that of the preacher but of the 
man in his wagon with reins and whip in hand, 
wearing a soft hat and in everyday negligee dress. 
There was but one Moody in the world. It was 
God working in him that wrought out his individu- 
ality. 

"Such was the man — devoted to the Bible, a man 
who prayed to God always, who wrought inces- 
santly, diversely, unweariedly, and with superlative 
fruitfulness, and whose life was hid with Christ in 
God. 

"Then came the end, the end of the beginning. 
'God is calling me,' he said. He had the ear to 
hear. And he had the eye to see. 'I see earth 
receding. Heaven is opening. If this is dying, it 
is bliss. ' 

"The following account of the funeral was sent 
me by one of the honorary pall bearers: 

" 'The entire services at the funeral of Mr. Moody 
was full of a spirit of triumph. Within a few 
moments of his departure he had exclaimed: "Is 
this death.? This is bliss!" He was indeed an exult- 
ant victor over the last enemy. As thirty-two Mt. 
Hermon boys carried what was mortal of him 
through the streets of Northfield from his home to the 
church and later from the church, past the house 
where he was born and where his mother not long 
ago died, to his place of rest on Round Top, the same 
consciousness of victory — the victory of faith in 
Christ — was strongly felt by every spectator. ' 

"During the funeral service in the church, as his 



MEMORIAL. 291 

pastor, Dr. Schofield, President Weston, Dr. Chap- 
man, Dr. Wharton, Dr. Pierson and John Wana- 
maker followed one another in impressive testi- 
mony concerning the friend, the guide, the teacher, 
the comforter, the revealer of Christ whom they 
had found in this man, the note of sorrow and of 
mourning was lost in the loftier note of the triumph- 
ant life of faith and love and unselfish service, which 
these addresses vividly presented. 

*'The venerable President Weston pronounced 
him the greatest religious character of the nine- 
teenth century. What most contributed to give him 
this pre-eminence was the possession by him — so far 
beyond others — of that life, concerning which Jesus 
said: *I am come that ye might have life and that 
ye might have it more abundantly. ' 

"Dr. Chapman said: 

*' 'It was through Mr. Moody's agency that I be- 
came a Christian, through his influence I entered 
the ministry and when my ministry was poor and 
unfruitful he was the messenger from God through 
whom I received the spiritual impulse and blessing 
which has given any fruitfulness to my work as 
evangelist, minister and pastor. Very often I have 
sought him at critical times for counsel and always 
received from him the brotherly sympathy and help 
I needed. ' 

"Mr. Moody's death appeals to me as a change of 
base from one scene of service to another. Accord- 
ingly it is, as I said at the outset of this sermon, that 
the words that first came into mind after hearing of 
Mr. Moody's death were: 'They serve him day anc] 
night. ' 



292 MEMORIAL. 

"Tennyson in his Ode on the death of the Duke 
of Wellington, sings : 

" 'We doubt not that for one so true, 
There's other nobler work to do 
Than when he fought at Waterloo.' 

*'So with Mr. Moody. 

"Indeed, I remember his saying, 'By and by you 
will hear people say, Mr. Moody is dead. Don't 
you believe a word of it. At that very moment I 
shall be more alive than I am now. I shall then 
truly begin to live. I was born of the flesh in 1837. 
I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is 
born of the flesh may die. That which is born of 
the Spirit will live forever. ' 

"I have thought of Mr. Moody as seeing Jesus 
face to face, whom having not seen, he so dearly 
loved. I have pictured the great multitude whom 
no man can number, whom he has been instru- 
mental in saving and serving, as greeting him and 
as sitting down with him in the Kingdom of God on 
high. 

"I have thought of him as paying his public trib- 
ute to the Christ to whom he was so beholden, and 
as renewedly consecrating himself to his service. I 
have thought of him as telling to the saints in glory 
what the grace of God has done for him and through 
him. 

"I have imagined a mammoth testimony meet- 
ing presided over .by Mr. Moody, at which new 
songs of redemption have been sung, and where 
hearts out of their abundance have testified to what 
God, through dear Mr. Moody, has done for them. 

"And if the old, old story has yet to be told any- 
where in God's universe except on this earth, by 



MEMORIAL. 293 

those who have passed from earth to heaven, I am 
sure that Dwight L. Moody's commission will not 
long be delayed, 

"His career, so remarkable as evangelist, edu. 
cator, builder, above all, and through all, and in all, 
as man of God and servant of Jesus Christ, will 
make him fitter than ever to engage in the service 
of heaven. His new environment, the presence of 
the King, his fuller, clearer vision, the glorious 
freedom he enjoys from all restrictions, must make 
of the old, old story of Jesus and his love, which he 
delighted so to tell on earth, the new, new story of 
redemption it will be his supernal satisfaction to 
relate. 

"Would that the young men of Rochester might 
have had their heart's desire gratified by hearing 
him as they confidently anticipated. But their loss 
is his gain and the gain of all to whom he has yet 
to minister. 

"May God bless to us the departure out of this 
life of His good and faithful servant, by intensifying 
our devotion to the Bible, by making us more prayer- 
ful, by stimulating us to more fruitful service, and 
by attracting us to a closer walk with God. And 
may what we are and what we do on earth qualify 
us for higher attainment and larger achievement in 
heaven. ' ' 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE LAST OF THE GREAT GROUP. 

BY REV. DR. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS IN "THE 
INTERIOR." 

When long time hath passed, some historian, re- 
calling the great epoehs and religious teachers of 
our century, will say, "There were four men sent 
forth by God: their names — Charles Spurgeon, 
Phillips Brooks, Henry Ward Beecher, and Dwight 
L. Moody." Each was a herald of good tidings; 
each was a prophet of a new social and religious 
order, and each made a permanent contribution to 
the Christian church ; while of all it may be said 
their sermons were translated into many tongues 
and their names known in every town and city 
where the English language is spoken. For our 
instruction, rebuke and inspiration God hath raised 
up other preachers,* representing a high order of in- 
tellect, marked eloquence, and permanent influence ; 
but as to the first order of greatness, there have 
been perhaps these four — no more. God girded 
each of these prophets for his task, and taught him 
how to "dip his sword in heaven. " In characterizing 
the message of these men we say that Spurgeon was 
expositional, Phillips Brooks devotional, Henry 
Ward Beecher prophetic and philosophical, while 
Dwight L. Moody was a herald rather than teacher, 
294 



LAST OF THE GROUP. 295 

addressing himself to the common people — the un- 
churched multitudes. The symbol of the great Eng- 
lish preacher is a lighted lamp, the symbol of Brooks 
a flaming heart, the symbol of Beecher an orchestra 
of many instruments, while Mr. Moody was a 
trumpet, sounding the advance, sometimes through 
inspiration and sometimes through alarm. 

And our sorrow to-day is the more, in that the last 
of these giants has gone down to the valley and dis- 
appeared behind the thick shadow. Oft in hours of 
gloom and doubt, full oft in days when wickedness 
seemed enthroned in high places, when the rich 
seemed to be selfish in their strength, and the poor 
without an advocate in high places, when good men 
seemed weakness and leaders seemed a lie, in our 
depression we have turned our thoughts toward the 
three prophets, in the English Tabernacle, in Trin- 
ity and in Plymouth, or toward the evangelist and 
friend of the people, and have been comforted by 
the mere thought that things were a little safer be- 
cause these four men were in their appointed places. 
The first three were commanders, each over his 
regiment, and worked from a fixed center, but the 
evangelist was the leader of a flying band, who 
went everywhither into the enemy's country, seeking 
conquests of peace and righteousness. Be the rea- 
sons what they ma}^, the common people gladly 
heard the great evangelist. In his death, the un- 
churched classes have lost their best friend. Fallen 
now their tower of strength. Changed, too, the 
very face of our moral landscape. For nearly forty 
years the multitudes have pressed and thronged into 
the great halls and churches to hear this herald 



296 LAST OF THE GROUP. 

speak of duty, sin, salvation, and God's love in 
Christ. But disappearing from our sight he is not 
dead. While life continues, for multitudes he will 
remain a cool spring flowing in a desert, the covert 
of a rock in time of sorrow. 

For the republic, the roll-call of self-made men is 
long and brilliant. Orators like Clay come in from 
the corn-fields, statesmen like Webster come from 
the bleak hillsides of New England, presidents like 
Lincoln come forth from the universit)'' of rail-split- 
ting, the inventors, merchants, and editors come in 
from rural districts and villages, and all are the 
architects of their own fortunes. But among all this 
group of men whose life in low estate began on a 
simple village green, none is more thrilling in its 
struggles, more picturesque in its contrasts, and more 
pathetic in its defeats and victories than that of the 
great evangelist. An orphan at four, one of the 
props of the family at nine, at nineteen a clerk in a 
shoe store of Chicago, at twenty-three the founder 
of a Young Men's Christian Association, where he 
slept on the benches because he had no bed, and 
bought a loaf at the bakery because he had no money 
for board. At twenty-four, the superintendent of a 
Sunday-school in a deserted saloon, where his pupils 
were drunkards, tramps, ragamuffins, mingled with 
street waifs and boys from a newsboys' home. At 
forty, the most widely-talked-about man in Great 
Britain, where his friends were college presidents 
and professors, authors^ editors, statesmen, scien- 
tists, like Drummond and Lord Kelvin. Returning 
home, in Philadelphia, he found that merchants had 
erected for his meetings a building seating ten thou- 
sand people, an event that was repeated in New 



LAST OF THE GROUP. 299 

York, Boston, Chicago, and many other great cities 
in our land. At fifty-three he founded a training 
school for young men and women in Chicago that 
has sent out fifteen hundred workers, a school for 
young men at East Northfield, and for young women 
at Mount Hermon, institutions that now have for 
their work more than a score of great buildings. 
Thrilling, indeed, this story. It repeats the expe- 
rience of young David, who passed from the sheeps- 
cote to the king's throne, and the scepter of uni- 
versal sway. 

"Where were the hidings of his power?" you ask. 
From nothing, nothing comes. Blood tells. A 
great ancestry explains a great man. The time was 
when men thought God called the prophet. But 
when God wants a John the Baptist, he calls not the 
son, but the father and mother, and they ordain the 
child in the cradle, and before the cradle. When 
the Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt, one mother 
there was, brave enough to dare the king, and hide 
her babe in an ark, amidst the bulrushes, and the 
mother's courage repeated itself in the greatest of 
jurists, Moses. Hannah was a dreamer who loved 
solitude, and walked the hills alone with God ; whose 
eyes "were homes of silent prayer," and her relig- 
ious genius repeated itself in her son Samuel, one of 
the greatest of the judges. What was unique in 
Timothy, Paul tells us, was first of all unique in his 
mother Lois, and his grandmother Eunice. And the 
greatest evangelist since Whitefield had his power 
through the ordainment of a great ancestry. He 
was of the best old New England stock. His father 
had the fine old Puritan fiber, and his mother, wid- 
owed with her little flock about her, exhibits almost 



300 LAST OF THE GROUP. 

unparalleled heroism, courage, and hope in the hour 
of suffering and trouble. For the tides of power in 
this man flow down from the ancestral hills. Among 
his birth gifts was the gift of perfect health and a 
perfect body, with stores of energy that seemed well- 
nigh inexhaustible. 

His, also, was the gift of common sense, a mind 
hungry for knowledge, a reason that saw clearly or 
saw not at all; moral earnestness, sincerity, self- 
reliance, courage, wit, humor, pathos, an intuitive 
knowledge of men, the genius for organization. 
Like Isaiah, he had a quenchless passion for right- 
eousness. Like Daniel, he had the courage of his 
convictions in the face of fierce opposition. Like 
Paul, his enthusiasm for men made him the herald 
of righteousness to foreign nations. Like Bernard, 
his was the crusader's heart, organizing his hosts 
against passion, ignorance and sin. Without the 
eloquence of Spurgeon, without the fine culture of 
Phillips Brooks, without the supreme genius of Mr. 
Beecher, Mr. Moody was a herald, a man sent forth 
from God, who called the unchurched classes to re- 
pentance, who flamed forth on them the love of God 
in Christ. For nearly six years, it is said that Mr. 
Moody's audiences averaged five thousand, each 
afternoon and evening. A record that has never 
been surpassed ia all the history of evangelism. 
"Our bishops," said the London Telegraph, "have 
back of them a state income, great cathedrals, a 
small army of paid helpers and musicians, but where 
our bishops have reached tens this man has reached 
hundreds." 

If preaching is man making and man mending, 
then Mr. Moody was a veritable prince among 



i 



LAST OF THE GROUP. 801 

preachers. In view of the great audiences of fif- 
teen thousand people that thronged into, or about, 
the hall in Kansas City, where he preached his last 
sermon, all must confess that no preacher in the 
land since Mr. Beecher's time was comparable to 
Mr. Moody in personal popularity, or in power to 
hold the masses. Any student skilled in the art of 
reading human nature, who has been upon the plat- 
form beside the great evangelist, and while listen- 
ing to his words has noted their effects upon the 
faces of the vast audience before him, must make 
haste to affirm that Mr. Moody knew the human 
mind and heart as a skillful musician knows his in- 
strument, and sweeps all the banks of keys before 
him. In the addresses that were given no element 
of great speech was lacking. Mr. Moody moved his 
audiences from tears to laughter; for laughter and 
tears are outer signs of inner thoughts and feelings. 
Life is determined by the emotions of the heart 
quite as much as by the arguments of the head. No 
matter how scholarly or intellectual the preacher 
may be, he is at best a second-rate preacher whose 
truth burns with a cold, white light. Truth in the 
hands of an intellectual philosopher who has found 
his way into the pulpit, cuts with a keen edge, in- 
deed, but truth in Mr. Moody's hands has been 
heated red hot, and the edge of his sword burns as 
well as cuts; like the Word of God, dividing be- 
tween the joints and marrow, and separating the 
sinner from his evil deeds. 

No misconception can be greater than to suppose 
that Mr. Moody has succeeded in spite of his lack of 
theological preparation. My old professor of dog- 
matic theology criticised me harshly during my 



302 LAST OF THE GROUP. 

student days for going to hear Mr. Moody on Sun- 
day morning. Because the great evangelist was a 
layman, and unordained^ this distinguished theolo- 
gian said that he declined to attend any of Mr. 
Moody's meetings during his great campaign in a 
city in which this professor had formerly resided. 
It is true that Mr. Moody had never crossed the 
threshold of college or theological seminary. More- 
over, in his enthusiasm he often used the vernacu- 
lar, homely idioms, and in every sermon broke some 
of the laws of grammar or of rhetoric. But noth- 
ing is risked in the statement that it was a great 
good fortune for him that he never found his way 
into a theological seminary. Nevertheless, he was 
a past master in his chosen art. He reached men, 
not because he knew so little about preaching, but 
because he knew so much. Could some scholar take 
a volume of Mr. Moody's sermons, and condense his 
thoughts, methods, appeals and illustrations into a 
volume of homiletics, the book would be so large 
and comprehensive that the ordinary work on the 
art of preaching would not make an introduction 
thereto. Taken all in all, for the work of an evan- 
gelist, this man represents more culture, and more 
thought about the methods of reaching the common 
people than any other man in his generation. To 
him it has been given to meet all the great preach- 
ers of the day, and to work with them. His was 
also the power of selection from each Spurgeon, or 
Maclaren, or Brooks, or Beecher, and from each he 
selected his special gift and excellence. Having 
spent eight months of each year in working with 
the foremost pastors at home and abroad, he has 
had four months in summer for study and confer- 



LAST OF THE GROUP. 303 

ence. Those who have seen Mr. Moody's library- 
know that this man has been a student of books as 
well as men. Superficial, indeed, the judgment of 
those who think that Mr. Moody was without edu- 
cation, or training-, or logic, or knowledge of preach- 
ing as a science. With him preaching became a 
fine art, an art that conceals the art. Did our the- 
ological seminaries multiply their three years of 
study by two, they could not hope to equip their 
students as long study and experience with men and 
books have equipped Mr. Moody. The methods the 
great evangelist adopted gather up the experience 
of twenty years of working with the greatest preach- 
ers of England, Scotland and America. Perhaps of 
all the arts and occupations in our age, not one is 
comparable to the art of preaching. It demands the 
highest talent, the deepest culture, tireless practice 
and complete consecration And happy the gener- 
ation to whom God gave this herald of good tidings, 
this friend of the common people, this messenger to 
the unchurched multitudes, who followed him as 
their leader along those paths that lead to prosper- 
ity and peace, to Christ, man's Saviour, to God, 
man's Father. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS. 

The vicinity of Northfield, the seat of Mr. Moody's 
labors, was first settled in 1673, and twice within a 
few years the town was depopulated by raids and 
massacres by the Mohawks and other Indian tribes. 
The third and permanent settlement was made in 
1 7 13. The natural resources of the town were de- 
veloped. Bricks were made from the clay, a grist 
mill erected and tar kilns established. A malt house 
was erected in 1721. The people were constantly 
menaced by Indians, but the settlement, notwith- 
standing all that, had an average of healthy growth. 

When the Chicago fire destroyed Mr. Moody's 
church and home, his plans were changed and he 
went to England. On his return from Europe he 
visited the old homestead of Northfield and deter- 
mined to make his future home there. While 
enjoying the contentment which came from seeing 
old friends, recalling old memories, and surveying 
as beautiful a pastoral picture as can be seen in that 
section of the country, he developed the plans for 
his school at that place. His principal idea was to 
plan a school where the girls in the isolated homes 
on the mountain sides might receive a careful train- 
ing in the Bible at a moderate expense. The first 
tract of land for this purpose was bought by Mr. 
304 



THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS. 305 

Moody in 1878 and consisted of 270 acres, and to this 
was added 16 acres opposite Mr. Moody's house, 
that same year. The next year the work was begun 
on a school-house. The school opened November 
3, 1879, with twenty-five pupils. In 1880 the first 
dormitory, known as East Hall, was opened and 
was at once filled with girls. Banar Hall was erected 
and shortly after was burned. Marquand Hall was 
dedicated in 1885. . Other buildings followed until 
the school reached its present proportion. 

Northfield has been greatly improved since Mr. 
Moody began his work there. The desolate and 
rock-covered hills have taken on a coating of velvet 
turf. Well built roads wind through the grounds 
and between the different buildings, and shade trees 
and shrubbery have been planted where they would 
improve the view. 

The land not utilized for lawns, building purposes 
and roads, has been placed under the care of practi- 
cal farmers, who have made it yield sufficient pro- 
ducts to furnish a large portion of the supplies used 
in the schools. There are also a number of horses, 
of which Mr. Moody was very fond, he being consid- 
ered an excellent judge of horse flesh. For this 
reputation he has frequently been assailed by his 
critics, and at one time the story went the rounds 
that he had paid as much as $2,800 for a finely gaited 
animal that caught his admiration. He allowed the 
story to go uncontradicted for some weeks under the 
impression that people would not believe it, and 
when he did refer to the matter he said that he had 
not paid $2,800 for the horse but had only paid a 
little less than one-tenth of that amount. 

The expenses of boarding and tuition at the Semi- 



306 THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS. 

nary from the time of its founding has been $100,00 
a year. All the housework is done by the students, 
still the sum paid for tuition only can pay about 
one-half the expenses, the other half is met by the 
income of a small endowment, and by royalties from 
the sale of books and by contributions. 

The principal text book is of course the Bible, and 
one of the obligations of attendance there is that a 
pupil must recite from it twice a week. 

Immediately in front of the porch where Mr. 
Moody used to sit so often and chat with his friends, 
is an oval sweep of grass land descending to the 
river, and up the valley far away the eye rests on 
the mountains. Within the house it is roomy, spa- 
cious and comfortable. On the right of the pas- 
sage a library,, on the left a reception room, and be- 
yond it the dining room. Up-stairs was Mr. 
Moody's private and special den, the walls of which 
were lined with books, all of them bearing upon the 
Scriptures. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 

Religious revivals have ever been a source of 
interest to students of sociology, history and religion. 
There have been times in the past in this country 
when different sections were interested in religious 
matters, but there have only been a few times when 
all parts of the country have been awaked at the 
same time. These events have been designated as 
periods of great religious awakening, and are admir- 
ably described in a paper by Rev. James Brand of 
Oberlin, Ohio, read before the World's Congress of 
Religions, held in Chicago in 1893. Dr. Brand says: 

"The first century of religious history in this 
country was largely devoted to church polity and 
the relation of religion to the state. Spiritually it 
was a rather barren period. There had been some 
revivals from 1670 to 1712, but they were local and 
limited in extent. The first great movement which 
really molded American Christianity was in 1740- 
1760, called "The Great Awakening," under the 
leadership of Jonathan Edwards Whitefield, Wesley 
and the Tennants, of New Jersey. This movement 
was probably the most influential force which has 
ever acted upon the development of the Christian 
religion since the Protestant reformation. In 1740 
the population of New England was not more than 
18 307 



308 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 

250,000, and in all the colonies about 2,000,000. 
Yet it is estimated that more than 50,000 persons 
were converted to Christ in that revival — a far 
greater proportion than at any other period of our 
history. This movement overthrew the so-called 
*' half-way covenant," a pernicious system which 
had filled both the churches and pulpits with uncon- 
verted men. In 1740 men without any pretense of 
piety studied theology, and "if neither heretical or 
openly immoral were ordained to the ministry," 
and multitudes of men were received to church mem- 
bership without any claim to Christian life. The 
great awakening reversed that stage of things. 
Students of theology were converted in great num- 
bers, and prominent men to the number of twenty, 
who had been long in the pulpits in and about Bos- 
ton, regarded George Whitefield as the means, 
under God, of their conversion to Christ. This 
revival was not confined to New England or to any 
one body of Christians. All denominations in New 
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the South were 
equally blessed. The movement awakened the pub- 
lic mind more fully to the claims of home missions, 
especially among the Indians. It likewise gave a 
great impulse to Christian education. The found- 
ing of Princeton college was one of the direct fruits. 
Dartmouth college, founded in 1769, also sprang 
from the same impulse. The proposition that in the 
preaching of the gospel the distinction should be 
maintained between the regenerate and unregener- 
ate, and that the church must be composed of con- 
verted souls only, has been accepted by substantially 
all evangelical demoninations since that time. The 
great doctrines made especially prominent in this 



GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 309 

religious movement were those required to meet the 
peculiar circumstances of the times, viz., the sinful- 
ness of sin, the necessity of conversion and justifica- 
tion by faith in Christ alone. These doctrines were 
the mighty forces wielded by the leaders of that 
time, and resulted in the recasting of the religious 
opinions of the eighteenth century. 

"The second general evangelistic movement, 1797- 
1810, generally called the revival of 1800, was hardly 
less important as a factor in our Christian life than 
its predecessor. It, too, followed a period of form- 
alism and religious barrenness. It was the epoch 
of French infidelity and of Paine's "Age of Reason," 
from which this revival emancipated America 
while France was left a spiritual wreck. Up to 
this time almost nothing had been done in the line 
of foreign missions, and there were hardly any per- 
manent institutions of a national character for the 
spread of the gospel apart from the churches and 
three or four colleges. From this movement sprang, 
as by magic, nearly all the great national religious 
institutions of to-day. The "Plan of Union" in 
1 80 1 to evangelize New Connecticut — Andover Sem- 
inary in 1808 to provide trained pastors; the Amer- 
ican Board, representing two or three denomina- 
tions, in 1 801; the American Baptist Missionary 
Union, 18 14; the American Education Society, 181 5; 
the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, in 
1 8 19; the Yale Theological Department, in 1822; 
American Temperance Society, in 1826; American 
Home Missionary Society, 1830; East Windsor 
Theological Seminary, in 1833. Here, again, all 
religious bodies were equally enriched and enlarged 
by the stupendous impulse given to religious 



310 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 

thought and activity by this revival. The leading 
characteristic of this movement, so far as doctrines 
were concerned, was the sovereignty of God, The 
success of the colonies in the Revolutionary war, the 
establishment of national independence, the awaken- 
ing forces of material and industrial development, 
together with the prevailing rationalistic and athe- 
istic influence of France, had produced a spirit of 
pride and self-sufficiency which was hostile to the 
authority of God, and, of course, antagonistic to the 
gospel. To meet this state of the public mind, 
evangelistic leaders were naturally led to lay special 
emphasis upon the absolute and eternal dominion of 
God, as the infinitely wise and benevolent Ruler of 
the universe, and man as His subject, fallen, de- 
pendent, guilty, to whom pardon was offered. Here 
was found the divine corrective of the perils which 
were threatening to overwhelm the country in barren 
> and self -destructive materialism. 

"The third great movement was in 1830- 1840. 
The tendency of the human mind is to grasp certain 
truths which have proved specially effective in one 
set of circumstances and press them into service 
under different circumstances, to the neglect of 
other truths. Thus the severity of God, which had 
needed such peculiar emphasis in 1800, came to be 
urged to the exclusion of those truths which touch 
the freedom and responsibility of man. When, 
therefore, this third revival period began, the truths 
most needed were the freedom of the will, the nature 
of the moral .law, the ability and, therefore, the 
absolute obligation of man to obey God and make 
himself a new heart. Accordingly, these were. the 
mighty weapons which were wielded by the great 



GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 311 

leaders, Finney, Nettleton, Albert Barnes and 
others, in the revival of that period. Thus a counter 
corrective was administered which tended not only 
to correct and convert vast multitudes of souls, but 
also to establish the scriptural balance of truth. 

''The fourth pentecostal season, which may be 
called national in its scope, was in 1857-9. At that 
time inordinate worldliness, the passion for gain and 
luxury, had been taking possession of the people. 
The spirit of reckless speculation and other immoral 
methods of gratifying material ambition had over- 
reached itself and plunged the nation into a financial 
panic. The Divine Spirit seized this state of things 
to convict men of their sins. The result was a great 
turning to God all over the land. In this awakening 
no great leaders seem to stand out pre-eminent. But 
the plain lessons of the revival are God's rebuke of 
worldliness, the fact that it is better to be righteous 
than to be rich, and that nations, like individuals, are 
in His hands. 

"The latest evangelistic movements which are 
meeting this new era and are destined to be as help- 
ful to American Christianity as any preceding ones 
are those under the present leadership of men like 
Messrs. Moody and Mills and their confreres. These 
revivals, though perhaps lacking the tremendous 
seriousness arid profundity of conviction which came 
from the Calvinist preachers dwelling on the nature 
and attributes of God, nevertheless exhibit a more 
truly balanced Gospel than any preceding ones. 
They announce pre-eminently a Gospel of hope. 
They emphasize the love of God, the sufficiency of 
Christ, the guilt and unreason of sin, the privilege 
of serving Christ and the duty of immediate sur- 



312 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 

render. If men said, *Is not the Gospel being over- 
grown?' They said, 'No, that cannot be/ If 
they said, 'Is the doctrine broad enough and deep 
enough to lead the progress of the race in all stages 
of its development and be the text-book of religious 
teaching to the end of time?' " 

FEB 3 1900 



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